Investigate, December 2006 by Investigate Magazine

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THE MIRACLE ISSUE: Christmas 2006

December 2006:

Real people, real miracles, that stunned medics at the world’s top hospitals

Taito Field John Hood Miracles

Starship Hospital, The Mayo Clinic Pittsburgh Children’s & more

Slave Brides

Prime Minister implicated in Field cover-up

Issue 71

Corrections & Justice Ministers also in the frame: EXCLUSIVE

Bridal or Bridle?

Inside New Zealand & Australia’s slave trade shame

Robbing Hood Can kiwi John Hood survive as Oxford vice-chancellor?

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Volume 6, Issue 71, December 2006

[FEATURES] 26] Helen & Taito

Did the Prime Minister’s Office prevent a key witness from giving evidence against embattled cabinet minister Taito Phillip Field? IAN WISHART has new information from the witness himself

32] Robbing Hood

When businessman and former Auckland University ViceChancellor John Hood was shoulder-tapped to shake up Britain’s Oxford University, he had no idea of the clash of civilisations he was walking into. Now the Oxford dons are voting this month whether to turn the kiwi into a lame duck. SELWYN PARKER profiles what happens when the irresistible meets the immovable

50] Slave brides

Under current NZ immigration laws, men can “shop” for a bride overseas, bring her back to NZ, exploit her as a sexual or household slave, and then cancel her visa at any time within two years and have her deported without notice. As MELODY TOWNS reports, it is the legal loophole that condones human trafficking in both NZ and Australia

56] Worldbrief: Lords of war

Russia has just been named the world’s leading supplier of weapons to the developing world, but Russian intelligence analyst VIKTOR LITOVKIN reckons the US has pulled a fast one with the numbers

40] Miracle stories

It’s an easy word to throw around, but do miracles really happen? KEN HULME & IAN WISHART report on five verified medical miracles at major NZ and world hospitals that have left surgeons stunned: cured of Parkinson’s, leukaemia, cancer and cerebral palsy

Cover: iStockphoto

[EDUTORIAL AND OPINION] Volume 6, issue 71, ISSN 1175-1290

6] Focal point Editorial

Chief Executive Officer Heidi Wishart Group Managing Editor Ian Wishart Customer Services Debbie Marcroft NZ EDITION Advertising

The vocal majority

14] Simply Devine

Miranda Devine on Gen-Y Colin Gestro/Affinity Ads

Contributing Writers: Ross Ewing, Chris Forster, Peter Hensley, Lidia Wasowicz, Chris Carter, Mark Steyn, Chris Philpott, Michael Morrissey, Miranda Devine, Richard Prosser, Claire Morrow, Laura Wilson, and the worldwide resources of MCTribune Group, UPI and Newscom Art Direction Design & Layout

8] Vox-Populi

Heidi Wishart Bozidar Jokanovic

16 ] Laura’s World

Laura Wilson on Xenophilia

18 ] Straight Talk

Mark Steyn on the anti-baby crowd

20] Eyes Right

Richard Prosser becomes a Republican

22] Line 1

Chris Carter on plods and plonkers

Tel: +64 9 373 3676 Fax: +64 9 373 3667 Investigate Magazine PO Box 302188, North Harbour North Shore 0751, NEW ZEALAND

24] Tough Questions

AUSTRALIAN EDITION Editor James Morrow Customer Services Debbie Marcroft, Sandra Flannery Tel: +61 2 9389 7608 Tel: +61 2 9369 1091 Tel/Fax: 1-800 123 983 Investigate Magazine PO Box 602, Bondi Junction Sydney, NSW 1355, AUSTRALIA

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Submission to authorities

60] Money

A house of cards

62] Education

Left-wing bias in universities

64] Science Intelligent Design – 10 years on 66] Technology Windows Explorer 7 is here

68] Sport

Why Australia is like kryptonite

7 0] Health The autism debate 72] Alt.Health Sunscreen dangers 74] Travel Broome, Australia 80] Food Thai Fish Curry 82] Pages Michael Morrissey’s summer books 86] Music Chris Philpott’s CD reviews 88] Movies The Departed, Santa Clause III 90] DVDs Superman Returns, Poseidon 92] Toybox Gotta haves 94] 15 Minutes Bonnie Raitt

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For more information contact: H.E Perry Ltd, Phone (03) 339 0028 Internet: www.heperry.co.nz Available from all leading photographic and specialty outlets. 26, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, April 2006

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FOCAL POINT

EDITORIAL Just doing our job

o the New Plymouth dioxin poisoning issue is back in the headlines. Although TV3 are making the current running on it, the story only became a subject for general media debate following a series of investigative pieces by Investigate magazine between 2000 and 2002. It was those stories that finally prompted health authorities to take blood tests from residents, blood tests that are now the subject of the 3 News coverage. But as I watched the sterling job being done by my former colleague Melanie Reid at TV3, I couldn’t help but be reminded of a man who in my opinion was a real disappointment throughout our investigations: the former editor of the Taranaki Daily News newspaper Lance Girling-Butcher. Throughout Investigate’s “If you had to ask for Investigate’s inquiries, Girling-Butcher raison d’etre, that would be it in a rubbished our stories, belitthe magazine’s credibilnutshell: we don’t do cover-ups” tled ity, labeled our revelations on dioxin exposure “scaremongering” and attacked us every step of the way. We were called conspiracy theorists and worse, by the newspaper supposed to be safeguarding the interests of its local community. Instead of safeguarding, the Taranaki Daily News appeared to run interference on behalf of Ivon Watkins Dow in a way that would have made even the chemical company’s PR person blush. The newspaper was sycophantic, shallow, biased in its coverage. Personally, I hope the new editor does a better job. The story of Paritutu has been one of treachery throughout. From an overly close relationship between Ivon Watkins Dow and successive governments, to an overly close relationship between the factory and local businesses and media outlets, to an overly close relationship between the factory and supposedly independent officials. The mess is the fault of no one particular individual, but rather the institutional old boys (now old girls) network that runs the country. At the stage when you get cretinous Directors-General of Health claiming that they could safely drink 2,4,5-T as a cool refreshment – as indeed they boasted in the 1980s – you can be forgiven for wondering whether in fact the deadly herbicide was in fact part of the liquor cabinet selection for officials – which would explain a lot. Then there’s the meningitis vaccine campaign. Again,

, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

Investigate was the only major news organization to question and challenge the official government line on the safety and efficiency of the vaccine. The rest of the daily media acted like a bunch of patsies, dutifully doing stories urging parents to vaccinate their children against an “epidemic” that was killing 13 people out of 4,000,000 a year. The issue wasn’t so much whether a vaccine was worthwhile as it was about whether in their rush to get it into schools the vaccine had been properly tested. In the wake of the Norwegian revelations, it appears not. In our view, based on Investigate’s inquiries, the Ministry of Health lied like flatfish to suit their agenda. We said as much in the magazine back in 2004. Now, nearly three years later, hundreds of thousands of kiwi parents will be wondering why the media let them down, why the media didn’t broadcast the full facts on the meningitis vaccine back then, why adverse events were allegedly covered up. If you had to ask for Investigate’s raison d’etre, that would be it in a nutshell: we don’t do cover-ups. We are prepared to ask the hard questions, prepared to take the flak from the government and even our colleagues in the media, if it means we can get a more honest set of facts in front of our readers. While other magazine editors are swanning around Ponsonby looking for the-next-big-latte-experience, at Investigate we’re just relentlessly pursuing leads, turning over rocks, looking for hard facts. While other magazines spend an awful amount of time looking for recognition in journalism “awards”, we’re just doing the hard yards on behalf of our readers. It has been an interesting year for Investigate, one marked by tremendous clashes with the Beehive as we attempted to hold Ministers to account, but also a year of strong sales and readership growth. This issue, because it’s Christmas, we offering up our usual diet of intrigue and investigation, but also a selection of miracle stories, in the hope that you too will have a miraculous and inspirational Christmas.

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VOX POPULI

COMMUNIQUES PLUS CA CHANGE…

I happened to pick up an Investigate magazine the other day and read with interest the front page: “GOTCHA – the political donations scandal”, and thought, boy, have you guys got in quick. Then I read the date June 2002. I had to laugh – here we go again. Is there any time that the Government of the day is not involved in corruption, swindles and back stabbing? I am beginning to think that it is time we got rid of all politicians and went our own way. At least we can’t do any worse (or can we?). Ian Wotherspoon, via email

PLUS C’EST LA MEME CHOSE

A psychopath named Adolf Hitler once said ‘’most of the population is dull’’. That is precisely how he was able to run riot for many years and in many ways the Labour ‘’government’’ is making its own capital out of the same endemic human weakness. That they have deliberately imported so many low grade immigrants and dumbed down the education system makes their job easier, inclusive of instilling thought control. All paid for by tax theft on a grand scale. Heck, even Helin Cluck has the same cold and piercing eyes as that evil little corporal, but I suspect her tenure of destructive influence will not last as long as his. The parallels are many though, including changing laws to suit oneself. Marwan Juma wake up, you have been comprehensively duped as have too many mainstream New Zealanders. I suggest you actually start thinking and realise what is really happening in this country. Personally, I look forward to the day that the most corrupt (and thieving) ‘’government’’ in our history meets its Waterloo. Especially satisfying will be seeing the arrogant, self-satisfied grin wiped off Michael Cullen’s face. I am only too glad that since my first vote in 1975 I have never been tempted to vote for Labour or any of its communist lunatic bedfellows, or indeed the political whore Winston Peters. There is little hope for us while we continue to be run by a collection of predominantly exlecturers, schoolteachers and union officials. Ian Wishart and sub editors you all rock, keep up the good work! Robert Taylor, Hawera

, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

VELVET FIST IN AN IRON GLOVE

The decision by the Clark administration to pass retrospective legislation to cover up its misappropriation of public funds for party electioneering is an affront to democracy. Usurpation of powers has been the hallmark of this dictatorial regime. The public of New Zealand should not be fooled that they have a democracy just because they get to vote. History may have been rewritten often enough for them not to realise that Adolf Hitler was democratically elected to power through a minority government. They should also realise that Soviet citizens took part in regular elections for the most part of the 70 years of Soviet dictatorships. Clark and her cohorts rejoiced in MarxistLeninist philosophies during their rather extended university days. It would have been appropriate for the Governor General to refuse to sign any such improper legislation and for him to dissolve this Parliament so that the New Zealand electorate might choose a more trustworthy government. Hugh Webb, Hamilton

HIDDEN AGENDAS

Most people probably have the view that we are controlled by the Acts passed by our Parliament; but this is not the case. The affairs of our society are controlled by public servants who use Regulations to tell us what we can do, and what we must do. After an Act is passed by our parliament, it is passed to officials – public servants, bureaucrats – to draft regulations which set out the details which can be used by the various officials to implement the Act. These regulations have to be approved by the appropriate Cabinet Minister before they carry the force of law. It is here, with the bureaucrats, or the Minister, that a certain amount of political “spin” can be put into the original Act. Fifty years ago our New Zealand Public Service was a truly non-political body; and public servants prided themselves on their political neutrality. But times change, and over the last fifty years governments, and particularly left-wing Labour governments, have managed to get people appointed to top positions on the basis of their “political correctness” rather than on their ability to do the job. These top officials are able to surround them-

selves with people of similar attitude. And so we end up with a public service which is directed along a political line, and which cannot easily be removed. Even though a new political group may be voted into power by a public anxious for change; yet the entrenched public service personnel can thwart any reforms for considerable time. The Americans have no such problems. Their system is quite open and visible to all. When a State Governor, or President, is elected he will immediately sack all of the senior administrators who do not hold the same political views as himself [and presumably the majority of citizens], and appoint people who will do the jobs he wants done. Any new government we may elect in this country does not have this privilege and has to wait for normal attrition to remove the “mavericks” Political change can be slow and frustrating for a public anxious for change. Our Education Ministry is a typical example of the power of the bureaucracy. About forty-odd years ago a group, left wing, and apparently dedicated to the ideals of Sigmund Freud, and J.J. Rousseau gained control in the education administration of New Zealand. They went about a programme of liberalization, and “fairy-land” policies. Labour governments tended to encourage these people, and the only attempt to “stop the rot” was made by the late Merv Wellington, Minister of Education in a National government. However, his own department officials, and the teachers’ unions combined to thwart all his efforts to set things onto a more realistic course In this country we have a situation where a great deal of manipulation of our society occurs out of sight, or knowledge, of most people. Only when it is too late do the public become aware of the damage that has been done to their way of life. The present parlous state of our education system started in the 1960’s and its worst results are only coming to light now. John Mills, Matamata

For all the moments we’ve shared

UNMASKING THE BRETHREN

This article was brought to my attention by my employers and we had a discussion regarding the EB’s right to earn a living, live the way they choose, etc to which I am sure every ex-member would heartily agree, is their individual right. This article didn’t attempt to go down the road of investigating the double-speak, the surreptitious, underhanded, deceitful power play, that is being exposed although you covered that on page 29 by saying “Other media have repeatedly tackled stories about the grievances of ex-members......although for the sake of completeness we did ask.” And so what did you discover Ian? Perhaps it would have been a more balanced report if you had reported on their answers, or lack of, to those questions that you say “we did ask” rather than wasting space on the insert on pages 30 and 31. I was disgusted. That someone would spend time finding statements that parallel Nazi statements for the purpose of highlighting the resemblance to “Labour’s attacks on the Brethren” is mind boggling! More than this, I am indignant that you as a human being even dare make such a comparison of the treatment of the Jews and the ‘alleged’ attack on the EB’s. Considering the documented evidence of the treatment that those in power in the EB system hand out to member’s, including shunning (Shutting up & Withdrawing from), breaking apart

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husbands & wives, forcing children to disown a parent who has made a God-given and state-given right of choice to leave the system and vice-versa, the pursuit of ex-members thru the court system, a flagrant disregard and manipulation of judicial rulings particularly in child custody cases, breaches of border control including illegally carrying money out of the country, the impact on our public health resources as a result of covered up sexual abuse, mental abuse, forced medication and coercion of those suffering depression, suicides....... and cost to the taxpayer.... Many, many lives over many, many years have been affected by the practices of the ruling ‘elite’ in this EB system and despite your opinions of their inherent goodness and attempt to present another side of the coin, so to speak, you have perhaps wasted an opportunity to expose the workings of a powerful destructive system, far more so than that of Helen Clarke’s government team. These people have been spiritually abusing generations under the guise of being ‘Christian brethren’. The saddest thing about all of this is....the average members are not aware of anything being grossly wrong, as is the case in most cults, until it is their turn to come under investigation and ‘assembly discipline’. Do you not find it interesting that there are an increased number of affected people who are no longer afraid to speak out about this system? What has recently changed to prompt them to speak now? Do you know that many are speaking with broken hearts, yet full of love for those they see trapped in this system? That they are not speaking out for revenge? And often it is the Love of Jesus motivating them to cast aside their own concerns or need for privacy to bring their beloved ones out of bondage? Do you know that many have undergone extensive healing and restoration with families is their hearts deepest desire? I think you have left too many stones unturned in your researching and reporting, Ian. However, if you haven’t and there is in fact another report on its way – make sure your legal counsel is on the same page as you. Hannah Hales, via email Editor responds:

Call me cynical, but if I had a dollar for every cult-done-me-wrong story I’ve covered in my career, I’ d be reasonably well off. Whether it was Moonies, or Centrepoint, Raelians, Wiccans or Presbyterians – whenever you have a group united by a belief in something you ultimately get disagreement within the group and splits that can be messy. I agree with you that the way the Brethren used to handle family splits was appalling. It might still be, although I’ve seen some reports that the system has changed. Any group that believes its “Elect Vessel” is the only one capable of interpreting biblical Scripture is treading on dangerous ground in regards to their own salvation, particularly if that “Vessel” is mistaken. Given the tremendous amount of media ink shed in the name of exposing the Exclusive Brethren over the years, I wanted to find out what made them tick, rather than what didn’t. The Nazi comparison with Labour’s rhetoric is entirely justified. If we allow the State to begin belittling and marginalizing tiny minority groups whose politics it doesn’t like, via dog-whistle propaganda aimed at turning the mob against them, then we’re no different from the way the Nazis did business. It is wrong, and I would feel just as

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concerned if Muslims or gays were being targeted in the same fashion by the State.

ON THE OTHER HAND…

I enjoyed your article on the Exclusive Brethren (EB’s) in this month’s magazine. Just a quick comment re the “update” at the conclusion of your article. I am an ex member of the EB’s. If the EB’s rated the 10 worst sins a member can be guilty of, then the sexual abuse of children and incest would be second only to murder and the only other challenge to that spot would be speaking out against the leader. It is inconceivable that these kinds of acts could be concealed. The EB’s differ remarkably from the Catholics in this way. They are all brainwashed fundamentalists and all individuals without exception hold a deep abhorrence for such acts. Even if one member tried to hush something like this, word would leak and any member hearing of such sinning would feel compelled to speak out. I accept this is difficult to consider but is something that only someone who has lived among the EB’s can fully comprehend. I am one of the EB’s harshest critics having been forcibly separated from my family for over 20 years with only a couple of brief meetings with my parents. The EB’s fully deserve most of the condemnation they have received, however in the interests of balance and fairness they should not be vilified for accusations which are without question, nothing more than malicious fiction. Name & address supplied

RED CROSS HOAX

Magnificent reporting, I refer to ‘The Smoking Gun Issue’ (October 2006) capturing my ongoing attention as I prepared for the annual Feast of Tabernacles, Jerusalem, Israel. Yes the smoking gun scenario has transfixed many a reader in our nation yet was brilliantly overshadowed by the well-constructed piece of investigative journalism titled ‘The first casualty of war: How the western media fell for a Hezbollah hoax’. In an age when the media has subtly deceived the listener and observer with their doctored and slanted reporting, finally we in New Zealand have a credible (media) source who with integrity reveal the truth! With my copy of Investigate in hand how could I neglect to share this exceptional article with the people of ‘The Land’, Israel? A people who since her re-birth in 1948 have been attacked (not just by means of war) and defamed on a regular basis by governments, organizations, and the media via the use of virulent doses of anti-Semitic propaganda. Israel, a land mass the size of Northland or the Canterbury Plains, a land mass equaling 0.32% of all Arab States. 20,770 km2 compared to 6,527,583 km2. Is the issue land? Of course not, unless you’re determined to rid it of its inhabitants and chase them into the sea (Mediterranean). No the issue is domination of one religion. Meanwhile the mass media, accompanied by its ability to report instantaneously, jumps at every opportunity to sensationalize and yes demonize legitimate Israeli responses to acts of war against her, indefensible wouldn’t you say? Congratulations Investigate, you are one of the remarkable exceptions, and a genuine heart-felt thank you from the people of Israel who were able to read the article with tears in their eyes,

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they truly appreciate a media organization that reports the truth rather than conjured up lies for the benefit of their ratings and earning capacity. Philip Did-Dell, Jerusalem

MYTHS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Today I accidentally came across your article about the Middle East in your Sep 06 edition I am very impressed with your journalist’s profound and deep understanding of the situation In my view this is journalism at its best. Be encouraged. Nissim Cohen, via email

PULL THE OTHER ONE, LAURA

Surely Laura Wilson is pulling our leg. People with attitudes, opinions and assumptions like hers and then combined with the levers of power have a great deal to answer for if Maori have any real or perceived lack of opportunity. Part Maori (show me a pure blood) have been patronised for so long that the surprise is that not more of them are crying ‘poor me, victim of the naughty Pakeha’. They have the same playing field as anyone else. In many ways one could argue they have a playing field with many more options than any other ethnic group. Of course some individuals are underprivileged, they are the ones born to parents who don’t care and in Maoridom today that is a large group. That is not to say that deficiency does not exist outside of Maoridom, of course it does. If any one factor has created a so called underclass it is the welfare system, which really went into overdrive after the Woodhouse Report was implemented in the early 1970’s. Another important and contributing factor is the changes in the education system, which by now is said to turn out some 20% of students who can not read or write with any degree of proficiency, which in turn means that those same students usually have limited verbal skills to add to their handicap. However those with Maori blood combined with “attitude” will always rise comparable with their ability. Those with out “attitude” need incentives to learn the 3R’s and they certainly will not if the current welfare and education system stays as is. “Give people a mattress, don’t be surprised if some of them lie down on it.” Laura Wilson calls Don Brash naive. I believe she is the one wide off the mark. And as for lambasting employers, in today’s competitive business environment coupled with ever more government and local body laws rules and obligations, why wouldn’t an employer want the most suitable candidate for a position as judged by the employer? After all the employer has the responsibility of running the business or organisation, not some one barracking from the side line. You want the job, prepare yourself and that goes for anyone, immigrants included. If we as a society fail to embrace the simple and fair concept of one law for all, then I believe the future will hold great pain. Ask the truck drivers, that is the ordinary working man or woman. Laura Wilson could do well to listen to what Theodore Dalrymple has to say, and then go away and think. Don McKenzie, Auckland

STRAY CAT STRUT

Away to the hills today, keeping eyes peeled for big cats. Hunters do swap stories from time to time – mountain lions in our area, certainly, although no one around here has seen a black cat. I haven’t seen any myself, but I think that if I did, I would neither shoot the beast nor report it. The common sentiment amongst many people who hunt, and who have no doubts that such cats do exist, is that they’re probably doing more good than harm, and the last people anyone wants getting involved are DOC. Name and address supplied, Central Otago

VICTORIA’S SECRET

Damn fine article on the big cats. I wish we had journalists over here that wrote so well on the subject, especially without getting sarcastic or treating the whole thing as a joke. Come to OZ, we need you!! Mike Williams, Victoria

FORMAL COMPLAINT

Dear Editor I wish to lodge a formal complaint. All my other siblings got a mention in the magazine when they were born, but not me. And I’m a big girl now, at least six months old! I know my mummy isn’t pleased either. Yours sincerely Isabella Wishart, Auckland PS, I’ve attached a photo in case you’ve forgotten what I look like! Editor responds

Would be difficult to forget what you look like, given the 4am wakeup calls. Probably lack of sleep contributed to the oversight...

Letters to the editor can be posted to: PO Box 302188, North Harbour, North Shore 0751, or emailed to: editorial@investigatemagazine.com

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 13

SIMPLY DEVINE

MIRANDA DEVINE

Generation Y: the rise of the New Conservatives

eneration Y youngsters seem to be displeasing their elders, which, of course, is what younger generations are supposed to do. But supine, mini-me generation Xers have been aping the baby boomers for so long it is refreshing to see real rebellion arrive. The gen Ys – an artificial marketing group usually defined as those born between about 1980 and 2000, or those aged between six and 26, though the margins vary a lot – are at last dishing back some attitude. In return they have been derided by their elders as conservative, materialistic, over-nurtured, ignorant, insular, apolitical and untroubled by ideas. Sydney newspaper columnists fume about the supposedly slack attitudes of gen Y waiters who don’t “Many gen Ys are products of serve coffee quite as they broken families and may want to would like. And when Saulwick create the stable family life their Muller Social Research parents couldn’t give them” released a study into gen Y this month, co-author Irving Saulwick was so horrified by the results that he dropped the traditional pollster’s impartial tone. “There’s a sense, if you’re going to change the world, you think about changing it when you’re young. There was not much of that here. Personally, it saddened me,” he said. Last year it was theatre director Jonathan Biggins complaining about a bad review of one of his “progressive” plays in the Sydney University newspaper Honi Soit. “The conservatism of the young poses a greater threat to those still on what is laughingly called the left than John Howard’s move into the suburban fringes,” he said. What the interminably hip baby boomers don’t get is that their ideas of rebellion and progressiveness are 40 years old. It’s time for a new revolution, and the signs from gen Y so far are that the future will be in good hands. Demographers and marketers have defined them as the most globally aware, rational, technologically savvy generation yet. They have been described as the “overachieving, overscheduled” generation. But they were lucky to be born in a period when children were back in fashion for the first time in a couple of generations. They are cherished, not only by their doting parents but by the low-fertility nations into which they were born. Mercenary politicians such as Peter Costello recog-

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nise them as the taxpayers who will bear the burden of supporting their elders. Having been raised to have strong opinions, gen Ys have become the most influential consumers. A study released this month at an American National Retail Federation conference, says 13- to 21-year-olds influence 81 per cent of their families’ clothing buys and 52 per cent of car choices. Gen Ys have been branded conservative but, as the South Park and Simpsons generation, they are sceptical about any ideological extremism and are ready to poke fun at the holy cows of political correctness. The Saulwick-Muller study of 16- to 24-year-olds described their “conventional” ambitions – marriage, children, car and house. The authors, Saulwick and Denis Muller, complained gen Ys aren’t aware of the “old certainties … created by arbitrated wages, protected industries and regulated markets” and have “not a trace of fear about what might lie ahead”. It doesn’t occur to them that maybe young people have no reason to fear a world without such things. Of a Sydney group they wrote: “While they weren’t ebullient about the future, they had a quiet, perhaps uninformed confidence that it would look after them or that they would have enough determination to survive.” Saulwick and Muller seem like fuddy duddies locked into a particular world view while accusing gen Ys of being ignorant, conventional and inward looking. Their special beef with the youngsters is they are not idealistic. But gen Ys are just idealistic about different things. Being idealistic about creating a stable home and family is not nothing. Many gen Ys are products of broken families and may want to create the stable family life their parents couldn’t give them. Not only do they believe in marriage, they are less likely to drink and take illegal drugs. They are more willing to volunteer to help others than any other generation. They are poised to replenish the moral capital that has been squandered by previous generations, ready to reject the moral relativism that Pope John Paul II said threatened humanity’s “great democratic project”. The last pope saw new hope in this generation, and the millions of young people who flocked to the Vatican when he died was a sign of that. Yippee for generation Y. Maybe at last we have a generation gap.

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lll#ZXdhidgZ#Xd#co INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 15

LAURA‘S WORLD

LAURA WILSON Confessions of a closet Xenophiliac

n rainy days I sometimes hang out at Auckland’s central library, beneath the giant screen with 24 hour BBC coverage. I grab a latte and a magazine from the stand, and find a seat amongst the other rain-shy mediaphiles. Last time I went, I counted the heads around me, there were eight of us hunkered in the alcove. I felt distinctly uncomfortable, and for some time thought of taking my latte elsewhere. The only thing stopping me was an internal battle, but not one about personal space. My struggle was with xenophobia. Every head I counted was covered in thick black hair, and belonged to a Chinese individual. I kept asking myself why this bothered me. I abhor the idea of being racist. I’m an “I’m as scared of Maori as I am of open supporter of immigraChinese because both, if given more tion, not without a tinge of vested interest as I am marpower, could take something away ried to an Asian and we curfrom me. That ‘thing’ is my ability rently require the services the government to gain to feel powerful, and my sense of of him residency. I would also power comes from knowing I stand love to see a Chinatown in firmly in the centre of my culture” Auckland, or a suburb like Bondi with its wall-to-wall Lebanese deli’s. Immigration adds rich flavours to our society that I would hate to live without. But it also pushes my buttons in uncomfortable ways which, if voiced, would endanger me of appearing racist. But surely there should be a way to air cultural concerns and dislikes without fear of earning this dreaded title? I decided to look beneath my irritation at being outnumbered by Chinese, and see whether there were justified concerns at the root, or merely ignorance. A first look at the thoughts running through my mind in the library revealed little more than standard kneejerk questions like: Why are there so many of them? Do they appreciate our taxpayer resources like this library? Why is that woman sleeping on the bench seat, taking up three spaces? Why are that man’s feet on the table? It smelt like typical territorialism. As if the library alcove was actually my living room, full of uninvited guests. So I dug a little deeper, asking myself how I might react if the alcove were filled with Pakistanis, or Somalians, or Americans.

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A room full of Pakistanis would inevitably switch my feminist defense-system to red alert. I would be on the lookout for wives dutifully walking two paces behind their husband, peering out through a slit in their veil. I would probably take on a cockier stance, attempting to make a statement about feminine independence. Somalians on the other hand have no track record with me. I can imagine feeling rather honoured to be one whitey among their charcoal faces. I would endeavour to make conversation, to elicit support and welcome. I imagine their clothes would be colourful, and their children bonny. I would love that. It seems if I am racist, it is without uniformity. I would love to see more Haitians, more Croats, more Liberians. Until of course, they outnumbered me in one of my comfort-zones. Then their children might appear a little more brattish, and their sense of colour, garish. My ideal New Zealand is multi-cultural, but it seems only if the culture I identify with remains dominant. There is simply nothing scarier than imagining one’s cultural rug being pulled out from underfoot. The French hate it. They want France to be the land of avante-garde croissant-eaters, stylish men and independent women. So where exactly do two million Turkish Muslim French fit into this? As the vast bulk of immigration is a flow from East to West, we in the coveted West hold the notion that as our way is better (or they wouldn’t come here) it behooves the immigrant to become like us. To the French, the sight of Islamic headscarves prudishly hiding the hair of young schoolgirls is an affront. The cry goes out; why come here to escape poverty and persecution, only to bring persecution with you? I look upon Chinese industriousness with similar concern. It’s all very well to work a 70 hour week, having one day off a month, but not if the drive to feather one’s nest extends to a gratuitous exploitation of the environment. China is in danger of becoming a desert, its air a permanent dust storm. Naturally, people will be queuing to escape to cleaner, greener climes. But to enjoy and protect those climes, or exploit them afresh? It’s now a week since I started this article, and I’m back in the library. Again I’m outnumbered, and again I feel uncomfortable. At one point I consider summoning the security guard when a man’s language becomes loudly vile. He’s swearing at the game he’s playing on one of the flash

new library computers. Apparently it’s outwitted him, and he’s not happy. Heads turn his way, not to echo my discomfort but in support of his outburst. I notice they are all dressed similarly. They are all wearing the garb of the homeless, and they’re all Maori. If New Zealand is indeed a homogenized, Maori/Pakeha culture, why am I feeling as challenged by a room full of Maori, as one full of Chinese? It’s not a new culture that threatens me this time, but an old one. One that used to be dominant, and now hugs the fringes. Instead of wondering whether they appreciate this tax-payer resource, as I did with the Chinese, I find myself wondering why they are all taking up a computer merely to play a game on it. Why they use foul language. Why they are dressed in unwashed clothing. This brings me full circle, answering my original question; whether at the root of my racial discomfort lay justified concerns or merely ignorance on my part. Maori belong here. If indigeneity is at the base of my attitude that I have more ‘right’ to New Zealand than the Chinese, then most certainly the homeless folk I now share this room with, have more right to it than me. I’m as scared of Maori as I am of Chinese because both, if given more power, could take something away from me. That ‘thing’ is my ability to feel powerful, and my sense of power comes from knowing I stand firmly in the centre of my culture. That its ways are my ways. It is a shock to discover this, and it’s not a good feeling. I realize I simply would not handle it if I fled New Zealand for some reason, and in my new land was forced to become a taxi driver or, God forbid, prostitute, because no one would hire a white, female journalist. Yet this is the fate that my dominant culture imposes on many non-white immigrants (and natives) here. We do not do assimilation well. We expect immigrants to do all the assimilating, but if they can’t get rid of that damn accent, then they can’t expect to get a decent job. Whilst this is the ugly face of cultural dominance, there is a side to it that’s very necessary. No sweeping changes to human behaviour would ever gain a foothold if certain ideas weren’t allowed to dominate for a time. Amongst these changes that I cherish are egalitarianism and sexual equality. Any culture that attempted to turn back this tide within New Zealand would justifiably have a fight on their hands. This includes Maori, who ostensibly have greater cultural heritage than me, if they tried to revive noxious principles such as old lineages of Royalty or Chiefdoms, having greater entitlement than mere ‘commoners’. Similarly, I would fight against other cultures’ practices like female circumcision, because concepts of human rights must always take precedence over concepts of culture. It is fear of being dragged back to beliefs and practices that my own culture has purged over recent centuries, that makes me nervous about immigration. And yet we need it, for quite a simple reason: We are all immigrants. Survival instinct means when we get a foothold somewhere, we immediately begin constructing a great big fence to keep others out. Or worse still, we let others in and THEN create a fence around them, effectively shutting them out. This is how immigration has been handled throughout Europe, and is behind the Paris riots. All those lazy, ungrateful black-skinned immigrants end up throwing rocks at Police because they are sick and tired of knocking at the door of French society, and not being allowed in.

“We are all immigrants. Survival instinct means when we get a foothold somewhere, we immediately begin constructing a great big fence to keep others out. Or worse still, we let others in and THEN create a fence around them, effectively shutting them out. This is how immigration has been handled throughout Europe, and is behind the Paris riots” So why did they go there in the first place? Ask yourself why your forefathers and mothers came here, and you will likely have their answer. A grown up society (and a grown up person) is magnanimous, and embraces newcomers so that it may grow in size, in scope and in character. Societies that don’t, go the way of Ancient Rome. While my attitude of territorialism was an entirely natural form of self protection, and a necessary protectiveness of hard won and easily lost societal values, successful immigration is about finding balance between protecting the healthy values of the host society, and ensuring that those values include the migrant.

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 17

STRAIGHT TALK

MARK STEYN Birthday party-poopers

ast month, in a maternity ward somewhere in the United States, the 300 millionth American arrived. He or she got a marginally warmer welcome than Mark Foley turning up to hand out the prizes at junior high. One could have predicted the appalled editorials from European newspapers aghast at yet another addition to the swollen cohort of excess Americans consuming ever more of the planet’s dwindling resources. And, when Canada’s National Post announced “ ‘Frightening’ surge brings U.S. to 300 million people,” you can appreciate their terror: the millions of Democrats who declared they were moving north after George W. Bush’s re-election must have placed incredible strain on Canada’s ”Spain, Germany, Italy and most highways, schools, trauma other European peoples literally counselors, etc. But the wee bairn might cannot sustain themselves – which have expected a warmer is why, in one of the fastest welcome from his or her Alas not. demographic transformations in compatriots. “Three hundred milhuman history, their continent is lion seems to be greeted becoming Muslim” more with hand-wringing ambivalence than chestthumping pride,” observed The Washington Post, which inclines toward the former even on the best of days. No chest-thumping up in Vermont, either. “Organizations such as the Shelburne-based Population Media Center are marking the 300 million milestone with renewed warnings that world population growth is unsustainable,” reported the Burlington Free Press. Across the country, the grim milestone prompted this reaction from a somber Dowell Myers. “At 300 million,” noted the professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California, “we are beginning to be crushed under the weight of our own qualityof-life degradation.” I, on the other hand, was feeling pretty chipper about the birth of the cute l’il quality-of-life degrader. The previous day, my new book was published. You’ll find it in all good bookstores – it’s propping up the slightly wonky rear left leg of the front table groaning under the weight of unsold copies of Peace Mom by Cindy Sheehan. Anyway, the book (mine, not Cindy’s) deals in part with

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the geopolitical implications of demography – i.e., birthrates. That’s an easy subject to get all dry and statistical about, so I gotta hand it to my publicist: Arranging for the birth of the 300 millionth American is about as good a promotional tie-in as you could get and well worth the 75 bucks he bribed the guy at the Census Bureau. But, even if you haven’t a book to plug, the arrival of Junior 300 Mil is something everyone should celebrate. So why don’t we? The answer is that too many people who should know better are still peddling the same old 40-year-old guff about “overpopulation.” What does Professor Myers mean by “quality-of-life degradation”? America is the 172nd least densely populated country on Earth. If you think it’s crowded here, try living in the Netherlands or Belgium, which have, respectively, 392 and 341 inhabitants per square kilometer compared to 31 folks per square kilometer in the United States. (1 square kilometer equals about .386 square miles). To be sure, somewhere such as, say, Newark, N.J., is much less bucolic than it was in 1798. But why is that? No doubt Professor Myers would say it’s urban sprawl. But that’s the point: You can only sprawl if you have plenty of space. As the British writer Adam Nicholson once wrote of America, “There is too much room in the vast continental spaces of the country for a great deal of care to be taken with the immediate details.” Nothing sprawls in Belgium: It’s a phenomenon that arises not from population pressures but the lack thereof. As for other degradations, the weight of which is so crushing to Professor Myers, name some. America is one of the most affordable property markets in the Western world. I was amazed to discover, back in the first summer of the Bush presidency, that a three-bedroom airconditioned house in Crawford, Texas could be yours for 30,000 bucks and, if that sounds a bit steep, a double-wide on a couple of acres would set you back about 6,000. And not just because Mr. Bush lives next door and serves as a kind of one-man psychological gated community keeping the NPR latte-sippers from moving in and ruining the neighborhood. The United States is about the cheapest developed country in which to get a nice home with a big yard and raise a family. That’s one of the reasons why America, almost alone among Western nations, has a healthy fertility rate.

Everywhere else, for the most part, they’ve taken the advice of Professor Myers and that think-tank in Vermont. In America, there are 2.1 live births per woman. In 17 European countries, it’s 1.3 or below – that’s what demographers call “lowest-low” fertility, a rate from which no society has ever recovered. Spain’s population is halving with every generation. These nations are doing what Professor Myers and the Vermont “sustainability” junkies would regard as the socially responsible thing, and having fewer babies. As a result, their countries are dying demographically and (more immediately) economically: They haven’t enough young people to pay for the generous social programs ever more geriatric Europeans have come to expect. By the way, I wonder if any helpful reader would care to provide a working definition of “unsustainable.” We hear it all the time these days. You can hardly go to an international conference on this or that global crisis without Natalie Cole serenading the opening-night gala banquet of G7 finance ministers with a couple of choruses of “Unsustainable, that’s what you are.” Two centuries back, when Thomas Malthus warned of overpopulation, he was contemplating the prospects of a man “born into a world already possessed” – that’s to say, with no land left for him, no job, no food. “At Nature’s mighty feast,” wrote Malthus, “there is no vacant cover for him.” But that’s not what Professor Myers and company mean.

No one seriously thinks 400 million or 500 million Americans will lead to mass starvation. By “unsustainable,” they mean we might encroach ever so slightly onto the West Nile Mosquito’s traditional breeding grounds in northern Maine. That is sad if you think this or that insect is more important than the developed world’s most critically endangered species: people. If you have a more scrupulous care for language, you’ll note that populationwise it’s low birthrates that are “unsustainable”: Spain, Germany, Italy and most other European peoples literally cannot sustain themselves – which is why, in one of the fastest demographic transformations in human history, their continent is becoming Muslim. As a matter of fact, you don’t have to cross the Atlantic to see the consequences of a loss of human capital: The Burlington Free Press would be better occupied worrying less about the 300 millionth American and more about the ever emptier schoolhouses up and down the Green Mountain State. I used to joke that Vermont was America’s leading Canadian province, but in fact it’s worse than that: Demographically, it’s an honorary member of the European Union. The reality is that in a Western world ever more wizened and barren, the 300 millionth American is the most basic example of American exceptionalism. Happy birthday, kid, and here’s to many more. © Mark Steyn, 2006

Not just water resistant but waterproof

Pentax Optio W20 New 7.0 megapixel email pentax@irl.co.nz Available from all leading Camera Stores INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 19

EYES RIGHT

RICHARD PROSSER Vive la Revolution

have become a Republican. It’s for all the wrong reasons, and I’m not entirely comfortable about it, but there you go. Essentially I’m a Monarchist at heart. So why the change? Fundamentally, I suppose, because in realistic terms, the Monarchy as it is executed in New Zealand has ceased to have relevance. The shift, for me, has come about as a result of the retrospective legislation, the Appropriation (Parliamentary Expenditure Validation) Bill, which legalises the nowcarried-out theft of money from the public purse and its misappropriation by political parties. Howls of outrage from ordinary New Zealanders, at this blatant railroading of the democratic process, have resulted in a rapidly-grow“Politicians have stolen, and ing online petition to the politicians have lied, and now Governor-General, entreating His Excellency to withpoliticians have changed the hold the Royal Assent from law to make it OK that they the Bill, thus preventing it becoming law. did these things” from Naturally, no-one expects Mr Satyanand to do any such thing; but as I write, just on 41,000 people have signed the petition, in just over four days – surely a record for our historically placid and dispassionate electorate. Yours Truly is amongst them, signing in as disgruntled citizen and voter No. 3029. Sometime later this week, the Bill will flit across the Governor General’s desk, receive the Vice-Regal seal of approval, and pass into the statute books as a sad and sorry blot on New Zealand’s legislative history. As the only Constitutional check between minority Government and the People, the Governor General has a vital, irreplaceable role in the maintenance of New Zealand’s democracy. When the individual bearing the Office of the Governor General fails in the execution of his or her duty, democracy and the moral right of law and governance fail with them. It is a doubly sorry performance on the part of the Queen’s Representative because, no matter how it is dressed up, in signing the Bill, the Governor General, himself a former Judge, will be saying that it is perfectly legal to steal, or at least that it can be made to be so. This is where I have a problem. The issue of retrospective legislation to validate theft is a clear-cut case of right

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versus wrong. Part of the foundation of our society itself is a clear delineation between the two. We assume that people will know what is right from what is wrong, we endeavour to teach our children this very basic lesson, and we base our laws and their consequences on this simple principle. It’s wrong to steal, and it’s wrong to lie, and we expect pre-school children to understand these truths and live by them. There has been, in recent weeks, a great deal of what can only be described as male bovine excrement spouted about this issue, from the very corridors of power which are supposed to house the moral foundation of the nation. None of it changes the very simple facts. Politicians have stolen, and politicians have lied, and now politicians have changed the law to make it OK that they did these things. And our Head of State is about to let them get away with it. And we can’t do anything about it, because we can’t do anything about him – apart from this petition, which, as we all know very well, he is convention-bound to ignore. To my simple rural way of thinking, �� it’s pretty much black-and-white; political parties were told, well in advance of the election, how much could be spent, when it could be spent, what it could be spent on, and where these funds were allowed to come from. They all knew the rules. However, all bar Jim Anderton claim not to have understood these rules. Personally I just plain don’t believe them. Perhaps Jim saw a different copy; or maybe he’s the only one who wasn’t lying. They broke the rules, knowingly, deliberately, cynically. They overspent what was allowed to be spent, and some of them stole from funds which they knew they weren’t allowed to use, in so doing. There was no confusion over the rules. They just nicked the money, plain and simple. And they got caught. They thought the Auditor General would back down. He didn’t. What may have happened in the past is irrelevant. What they may have got away with in previous elections doesn’t count. This time they were told, this time they knew, this time they did it anyway. The burglar, the rapist, the speeding or drunken driver, cannot claim immunity from prosecution on the grounds that they haven’t been caught before.

Retrospective legislation is not, as Parliament’s Speaker, Margaret Wilson, and certain apologist commentators would have us believe, the only way in which the “unlawfulness can be remedied” – in the real world, may I inform Ms Wilson, this is achieved by somebody going to jail. Of course the Governor General is not going to refuse Assent. Nobody believes for a minute that he will. That’s why he’s there; to be a politically-appointed tame rubber stamp. But that he, a former Judge, can allow a law to be passed which legalises theft, indicates that the corruption of both his office, and the Government, is now complete. That politicians should be corrupted to the degree that they would choose to follow such a course of action in the first place, is distasteful. That they should then attempt to justify their actions with lies, is reprehensible. That such lies should be given the validation of a law which reaches back into the past is abhorrent, and in itself, opens a Pandora’s box which I fear may only be closed again by the very strongest of ethical fortitude and leadership, the like of which our country does not currently visibly possess. That the legislation could have been stopped were it not for the abstention of the Greens and the Maori Party is nauseating, and their collective inaction indicates a moral cowardice which gives the lie to their previous, and now subsequent, proclamations of integrity. Of the positions taken by Winston Peters and Peter Dunne, little remains to be said which their actions have not already illustrated clearly. To think that once we held them both in high regard, as protectors of truth, honesty, and the rights of the common man….well, I can only shake my head. In almost any other jurisdiction, such a brazen and publicly derogatory piece of lawmaking, carried out with such arrogant disdain and disregard for the principles of democratic rule, would struggle to pass muster, simply because the body of Government attempting to bring it about would itself be answerable to one or more separate levels of interrogation and inspection, each of them answerable themselves to the will of the people via the ballot box, or a written Constitution, or both. Because our single-tier Government has neither, Constitutional integrity rests with the personal fortitude of the holder of the Office of the Sovereign’s Representative. By convention, the Governor General does not exercise his or her Reserve Powers against the dictates of Government or the resolutions of Parliament, but it must be remembered that the same convention of honest and ethical behaviour is all which prevents the Government from stooping to corrupt or unconscionable practices in the first place. I would contend that in creating this piece of cowardly, dishonest, and insidious, retrospective legislation, and passing it under urgency, with the support, or the complicity, of those who stood to either profit from it or to be exonerated by it, the Government has departed from this convention. When the Governor General spinelessly allows this Bill to become law, the usurpation of our Parliamentary democracy will also be complete. One man, and one man only, has stood against the tide of corrupted thought and illegal action which has begun creeping through the machinery of government in New Zealand, and that man is the Auditor General, Kevin Brady. So what can we do about it? In the past, I have suggested that the Queen’s Representative be someone who was above and beyond

“It may be better, I would contend, to abandon pretence, and establish a new and unarguable hierarchy of Governance; a multi-tiered Assembly of the People, with each part answerable to the others; a combination of national and regional Government, an Upper House, a Supreme Court wherein Judges are elected by the People, and all of it regulated ultimately by a written Constitution”

politics, who held the interests of the nation as paramount, and who was able to carry out the role of Statesperson, fairly, impartially, and with the courage to sack the Government of the Day, should such action prove necessary. I have suggested the Maori monarch as a suitable contender for this role. Maoridom, however, appears singularly disinterested in this idea. So be it. I can move on from there. There has also been some suggestion that we as a nation should elect our Governor General by universal ballot. Yes, maybe; but only if the holder of the Office is empowered with both the desire and the legal right to behave as I have described – and if they do, it begs the question, have we then moved on from the concept of Monarchy altogether? Certainly, we have arrived at a point in our nation’s development where it has become necessary for the Prime Minister to be elected directly by the whole country. The office has already become that of Executive President by default, and it is time we recognised that truth, and took steps to regulate the unbridled power which this situation has come to provide to its holder. It may be better, I would contend, to abandon pretence, and establish a new and unarguable hierarchy of Governance; a multitiered Assembly of the People, with each part answerable to the others; a combination of national and regional Government, an Upper House, a Supreme Court wherein Judges are elected by the People, and all of it regulated ultimately by a written Constitution. And, of course, for this new Republic – or perhaps, Confederation of Republics – a President; someone elected by the People, answerable to the People, able to be recalled by the People, and above all, with both the authority and the balls to dismiss the Government if the latter should transgress the letter of the Constitution or the spirit of democracy. Such a President will need to be a person of proven moral conviction and dedicated courageous application, steadfast in the face of corruption and unswerving in their respect for, and their desire to uphold, the law of the land; someone who believes that the conventions of the past are more important than the arrogance of those who would seek to disregard them. May I be the first to propose Kevin Brady as a contender for the job.

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 21

LINE ONE

CHRIS CARTER Of plods and plonkers

uckland currently sports the moniker “City Of Sails”, a touristy term apparently coined to mislead overseas visitors into believing that they are visiting a city where the local population, when not hard at work, disport themselves on the highly photogenic Gulf, “messing about in boats”, or perhaps, if land-bound, performing instant Hakas or twirling poi’s. Indeed little, if anything is said to these visiting innocents as they arrive at the Airport, as to a distinct likelihood, during their stay, of becoming a victim of virtually any crime that a copper could put a name to. Cars are now stolen in bulk numbers, or at least are likely to be broken into, even in broad daylight, and the contents instantly whipped away as if by Houdini him“Those that I have spoken to self. Phone the Police in the of either of these parbelieve that current violence and case ticular crimes having visgeneral mayhem could be very ited you or yours and you quickly sorted out by the simple will be greeted with an official attitude that displays a restoration of respect and public complete lack of sympathy confidence in the force” or indeed any clue at all that the constabulary intends to either take seriously your plight, or indeed to even begin to try and catch the offenders. Aucklanders themselves, of course, have long since learned to accept the official PC attitude that criminals, being simply products of their environment, are to be pitied rather than actually punished. The Police have added to this attitude a very high statistical chance that one in two of them will be getting a right ‘duffing’ up by the ungodly so have become more than a little cautious in chasing after them in any case, especially if they happen to be coppers who have recently been inducted into the force, who may well now be technically dwarfs or weighing in at around the same as a sugar plum fairy. But there you go, political correctness now dictates that big, tough coppers that could easily scare the what name out of your average crim, (and even the likes of me when I was a callow youth) should be replaced with less intimidating new recruits, who naturally are now getting a regular kicking from the crims that they are meant to be protecting us from! So, not unlike our “Armed” Forces, our front line Police Force is now struggling to protect itself – let alone being in anyway capable of lawful offensive action,

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or, as Shakespeare once put it, “that now instead of mounting barb-ed steed to fright the soul of fearful adversary, he capers nimbly in a ladies chamber to the lascivious pleasing of a lute”, or in modern terms perhaps...the mongrel has largely gone from the ranks, to be replaced by the sort of pooch that Paris Hilton favours that at best would be struggling to overcome a feisty ferret. So back to our visiting tourists, freshly arrived and completely innocent of the way this town actually is, as opposed to the way the Tourist and Publicity people have painted same, naturally they decide to take a bit of a wander on a Saturday evening down Queen Street, which next to South Auckland’s Otara is like riding a bike through a cannibal encampment. Drunks and yobbos abound, hard-faced and very likely long term recipients of innumerable “Group Family Conferences” there they lurk in various alleys and doorways expertly weighing up the likely contents of wallets and the handbags of those that pass them by. But fear not, just as our heroes are suddenly realising that hell, this Queen Street place looks worse than Miami’s Little Havana, around the corner comes the reassuring sight of a brace of patrolling coppers. Just one problem though, they appear to be about as scared as our now quite terrified tourists, which in many respects is probably quite understandable, because the local lowlifes have long since learned that with the scrapping of the Police Act some years back, they can be drunk in a public place, as objectionable and frightening to passers by as they like. Certainly the five foot four uniformed lady copper looks as though carrying her loaded down belt and heavy jacket certainly wouldn’t help one bit if one of the 100 kilo gorillas decided to seriously act up in the near vicinity. Her companion Officer looks like being a really nice young guy, around 75 – 80 kilos, but never the less if you and a couple of mates were looking for a hand to go re-possess your stolen Bike from the Mongrel Mob, just plain common sense would have him off your good scrappers list in just a heart beat. These two young coppers, by the way, are not a figment of my imagination, I saw them a couple of weeks back in the same essential situation that I’ve just described. This, in my usual torturous fashion now brings me to a few points that I reckon need making. News a couple of weeks back quite clearly showed anyone, even our current Minister of Police, that the bad guys no longer fear the Police, being now more than prepared to attack them on a very regular basis. Why? Well better to

pose the question why not? Good Policing worldwide at street level relies very much on fielding highly visible, polite, professional, but very tough bastards. As a model that we are all familiar with, perhaps a younger Colin Meads and a large cohort of similar sized people patrolling our streets would have street violence, and especially assaults on Police, within weeks of their employment, as nothing more than a monument to the woolly headed PC theories that have largely brought this current state of affairs about. Annette King as Minister of Police? Good God, the poor woman probably has about as much idea about violent crime as running a health system. These appallingly inept political donkeys move from portfolio to portfolio purely and simply so that no one in the future can ever get a really good handle on just how inept and useless they really are. Couple this system together with the newly adopted practice of making sure that the Party-appointed Police Commissioners are now of the type that simply tug their forelocks and accede to the Minister’s every whim, and you have the exact recipe for the inevitable decline of a previously outstanding and highly regarded Police Service. I remember as a kid a TV programme featuring PC49, PC standing for Police Constable, certainly not a caring and sharing Politically Correct civil servant! Currently, morale in the Police, despite what you may be hearing from the Police Commissioner, is going through the floor. The Police are fortunate though, to still have in the service good coppers who know what needs to be done. Those that I have spoken to believe that current violence and general mayhem could be very quickly sorted out by the simple restoration of respect and public confidence in the force, combined with a major change in the sentencing of offenders that once again will return our society to the point where the whole justice system will be respected by the law abiding but scare the living day lights out of the lowlifes. Like it or not, Fear is the Key in the effective regulation of any society...speed in your car to excess and you will be fined, maybe lose your license or even your actual car. We all know this so even the more lead-footed amongst us have a healthy fear of consequences and in the main part behave ourselves no matter how tempting it is to stamp down the right foot on a straight bit of road. Problem here is however, that many youngsters these days have little or no fear of consequences in that they know full well that you can collect, for instance tens of thousands in fines as an individual, to the point in fact where I saw a rear number plate holder the other day that said, “Hi Officer, put it on my tab”, which isn’t so much cheeky as really a pure statement of fact! Letting lawbreakers build up unpaid fines in this country, at any given moment, of several hundreds of millions of dollars is the main reason that we now have crims and other convicted persons simply raising two rude fingers at our whole system of justice. Much worse, in particular though, is that our long suffering police are then essentially emasculated as being in any way an effective enforcement agency, simply because there is now little to fear in the way of effective consequences, because to be frank the ultra-liberalism oozing from Parliament has now thoroughly wrecked a previously robust and highly effective system of justice. Gaze upon some of the right pratts that have recently held the Ministerial Portfolios of Police, Justice, and Corrections! Plainly with no understanding at all about the differences between right and wrong this collection of elderly flower children have in essence, through a series of extremely dumb decisions, turned New Zealand, certainly the big cities, into places that should now be avoided at all

costs. South Auckland for instance, is now being held hostage by a relatively small but very active bunch of violent thieves and ethnic gangs, young school kids are blatantly engaged in street prostitution and drugs are just everywhere...and the Police, understaffed, under resourced and with no effective back up at all from local patter-cake judges are simply loosing the battle. Mind you, having lived and worked in South Auckland I’m well aware that you will find that the bulk of the people who live there are really nice, salt of the earth Kiwis... it’s just that they are being condemned to live in a South Seas version of East L.A. simply because those cosseted and privileged tossers in parliament are right up the ladder Jack...their obvious message to the workers that they are meant to represent, at the bottom of the ladder, is a plain, “up yours mate!” This arrogant attitude of uncaring and inept mishandling of our entire justice system should be reason enough to engender the immediate display of several ministerial heads on pikestaffs! This happy sight unfortunately is most unlikely to occur, these ministerial miscreants enjoying more personal security and police protection than South Auckland could expect if there was a full blown riot in progress. Then again, one area that perhaps I should remember is that country, you can still be dragged off in chains for even an oblique reference of sedition, so please forget any suggestions made about heads on pikestaffs…Perhaps we should simply take a whole lot more care as to who we let into positions of power, because from Crime stats we certainly blew it big time at the last couple of elections didn’t we! Chris Carter appears in association with www.snitch.co.nz, a must-see site.

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INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 23

TOUGH QUESTIONS

IAN WISHART

Romans 13: Submission to Government

UESTION: “I am wondering what your opinion on “Romans 13” is, knowing that you seem to be as cynical and anti-big-government as I am. In the past year or so I have been writing to a couple of Christian “message boards” on the internet, where the people are mostly American. I have come across the attitude – from just about everybody – that says that Romans 13 says that God has personally empowered the government to act on his behalf and we are committing a sin if we do not obey the government. When I bring up the inevitable, “but what about the Nazis, Pol Pot, Robert Mugabe, Stalinist regimes etc”, I get back “that is unless government asks us to do something that is unscriptural”. I get the impression “It is legitimate and actually with some of them that they the biblical duty of Christians to would slit their mother’s throat if they felt that the demonstrate against evil government told them to do committed by the State” it, and excuse it by saying “it is God’s will”. ANSWER: I’m so glad you asked, because this is something some Christians have asked regarding how we should treat New Zealand’s governments. For those who don’t know the verses, Romans 13 says this: “1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”

24, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

On the face of it, Romans 13 appears pretty direct. But does it really mean that Hitler was a servant of God from whom the good had nothing to fear? Although some Christians unfamiliar with their Bibles would hesitantly answer ‘yes’ while at the same time wondering how on earth that could be, the real answer is ‘no’. Where the confusion has arisen is failure to distinguish between the nature of authority – government – and the personality of authority – the people presently incumbent in the offices of government. Elsewhere in the Bible, it is clear that whilst God has ordained governments and kingdoms as a means of maintaining general order and justice, he himself is by no means impressed by many of those appointed to high office. Hosea 8:4, for example, says: “They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction.” The importance of Hosea is critical to understanding Romans 13. In the Hosea passage, God is speaking through the prophet lamenting that his people “set up kings without my consent…”, clearly showing that it is possible for governments to exist who are not approved of by God. Logically, this also fits with the biblical concept of human free will. When a nation chooses a government that reflects its own values and desires, rather than God’s, it is entitled to do so but it becomes just another nail in the coffin-lid of sin for those voters come Judgment Day; or, as Hosea puts it, “They make idols for themselves to their own destruction”. New Zealand, over the past 30 years, has elected a string of governments from both sides of the fence who have progressively passed laws in direct conflict with the Ten Commandments. They have done so, primarily, in a mistaken belief that the world is secular, that belief in God is a ‘private affair’, and that Christian values should no longer be the cornerstone of our Code of Laws. I say “mistaken” because if the Christian God exists (and I believe the evidence is now overwhelming in the positive), then all human life and affairs ultimately fall under his authority regardless of what we all may “privately” believe. “If” the Christian God exists, then the Christian thesis of a looming return of Jesus Christ to

“New Zealand, over the past 30 years, has elected a string of governments from both sides of the fence who have progressively passed laws in direct conflict with the Ten Commandments”

Photography: Tim Roberts

judge the world is also true. The God of the Gospels is likewise the God of Revelations. How are Christians supposed to react to governments who overreach their authority and encroach on God’s? “We must obey God, rather than men”, warned the apostle Peter in Acts 5:29, before suffering a flogging at the hands of state authority for daring to take that stand. Tellingly, Acts 5:41 records that as the apostles were freed following their public floggings, they were “happy” because God had allowed them to suffer persecution and disgrace for the sake of Jesus who, after all, had been nailed to a cross by order of the authorities. Romans 13 also needs to be understood in the context of its day. Back in 40 AD, governments did not have in place massive social engineering programmes bankrolled by 50% taxes. In fact, the average Roman peasant would choke at the massive take imposed by modern Western democracies. Nor were citizens back then subjected to the same kinds of laws we are now. The laws were essentially very simple, and put in place systems where grievances could be heard, judged, and punishment administered. In Romans 13, the passage relating to “the sword” does not refer to justice generally but to capital punishment – a Godgiven instruction to humankind abandoned in the past 30 or so years in most Western jurisdictions. So progressively, our legal code has moved from a simple one based on the Ten Commandments or similar principles, to one originating from a more secular humanist perspective. It is only such a perspective, for example, that could argue in favour of legalizing abortion – which at 18,000 terminations a year remains the largest single cause of death in the country.

Are Christians to believe, because of Romans 13, that God has ordained this? No. The Old Testament is full of examples where governments have legalized similar carnage (2 Kings 21:16 is just one example) only ultimately to suffer divine judgment for passing such laws. Matthew 5:39 – “resist not evil” is another Bible verse misquoted in a similar fashion to Romans 13. Taken literally, and out of context with the rest of the New Testament, an ignorant Christian might presume that they have no right to challenge the evil actions of others. “Judge not, lest ye be judged”, is often added to this. Again, what people often fail to realize is that these instructions refer to the actions of the Christian whilst preaching the Gospel to others. Thus, the whipping of the apostles for challenging the authority of the state is an example of their actions conforming to Matt 5:39 – they did not resist the whippings even though they were unjust. The judging verse refers to Christians adopting a holier than thou approach to the personal lives of others: if you wish to criticize, that’s fine, but make sure you do not commit the same sin you accuse others of. If society were to “resist not evil” in a general sense, then we would be required to do away with police and the armies and let anarchy reign, which clearly is not what Christ had in mind, especially when he himself said at Luke 19:27 about those who ultimately resist the authority of Christ: “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.” Thus, again, it is legitimate and actually the biblical duty of Christians to demonstrate against evil committed by the State, even to the point of punishment and persecution – which should not be resisted but welcomed in the name of Christ.

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 25

Trouble in

Paradise

THE TAITO FIELD CASE GETS EVEN HOTTER 26, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

T A meeting between Taito Field, Justice Minister Phil Goff and a Thai tiler working on Field’s Samoan home puts the cat among the pigeons as police close in. IAN WISHART has more

he Prime Minister’s office pulled the plug on a key witness who would have told the Ingram Inquiry that Taito Phillip Field had boasted about having “an arrangement” with Associate Immigration Minister Damien O’Connor to get immigration permits approved. The witness, building contractor Keith Williams, says he was present when Field told a Thai tiler seeking a work permit that “the Minister and I have got an arrangement between us. I do things, he does things, I’ve got an arrangement with him.” Williams says he initially thought Field was referring to Immigration Minister Paul Swain. “I thought he was talking about Swain, but really he was talking about O’Connor,” Williams has told Investigate. The contractor says he wanted to testify to the Ingram Inquiry about what he had heard, but the request was vetoed by Helen Clark’s office. “It was the offsider to Ingram that I spoke to, Gareth, and he was the one who ran it past someone from Helen Clark’s office to get an OK on whether they would fund me to have legal representation, and it was turned down. That was when the Ingram inquiry started, at the beginning of it.” Williams says he wanted legal representation to protect his own position, and it would have only cost the inquiry around $3,000. He says the inquiry was given approval to pay for legal representation for other witnesses – just not him. “What was actually said [between Field, Williams and the tiler] hasn’t come out, because I wouldn’t go before Ingram because they wouldn’t pay for my legal advice and also because if [Thai tiler Sunan Siriwan] was not going to come out and tell the truth, and I tell the truth, then I’m sticking my neck out and I’ll get sued by Taito. But now Sunan’s come out and said in a sworn affidavit that he was coerced and forced by Taito and the builder to lie, well now I can say it, because I’m backed up by him. So I couldn’t go and say “Taito had an arrangement with the Minister, and bragged about it”, because I would have got sued.” “He just said he had an arrangement with the Minister, and I said to him at one stage, ‘Is that Swain?’, he said ‘no’.” Williams says that the meeting concentrated on what Taito could do for Sunan, and what Sunan in turn could do for Taito. “[Taito] said he had 400m2 of tiling to do up in Samoa and that Sunan could go to Samoa, would have to leave NZ and stay in Samoa, and he would arrange a work permit for him to work on his house and do the tiling, and that he had an arrangement with the Minister and could help him get a work INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 27

“I was asked by Taito to fill out an Immigr ation Application to New Zealand for Sunan, so it was an application for a work permit I think. Because Sunan can’t write English very well, so Taito asked me to fill it out for him, and he just left the form there. And when I left Samoa that form was still to my knowledge sitting in the bedroom or the gar age”

28, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

permit for New Zealand. “He said he could make no assurances and would put nothing in writing, but that we should have another meeting later at his house. We had another meeting at his house and filled out some forms. [Field’s wife] Maxine made some calls to Samoa about a work permit, then we had another meeting at his house and air tickets were picked up.” Keith Williams says he’d initially accompanied Sunan to the meetings as a support person, but that Taito found a use for him as well on the Samoan house project. “In the course of events he asked me what I was doing, and I said I did bathroom renovations and tiling etc, and he said he had some showers to be done and they needed waterproofing, so I said ‘I used to work up in American Samoa for 12 months, I wouldn’t mind going up there just to see some old buddies, I can go across to American Samoa. So if you give me a ticket, I’ll come up and waterproof your showers for you and that’ll make Sunan a bit more comfortable’. “Because Sunan was a bit worried about going up there, so I said to Taito, ‘if you pay my ticket up there, and buy the material, I’ll just come up, do the waterproofing, and come back.’ And he said that was fine. But as you can see from reading my letter, nothing was ready. “Taito said in the Ingram report, he said the builder was at that meeting and he didn’t want us. Bulls**t! He wasn’t there at all. If the builder had been there he would have told Taito ‘there’s no showers even built yet, they don’t need waterproofing!’ So why the hell did he approve taking the waterproofing materials up there if he was in the know? He wasn’t in the know, he didn’t know what was ready and what wasn’t ready. Taito didn’t know. Because we said to him, ‘Is it ready for tiling?’, and he said ‘yeah’. But when we got to the house, nothing was ready, there were no showers built, the floors were all up the shit, they had to be screened and leveled.

“And then when I thought, ‘S**t, he’s paid my ticket, so I’ve got to do something because I can’t just jump on a plane and piss off’, so I felt obligated and I gave Sunan a hand with the floor leveling for a couple of weeks.” Williams has told Investigate that it was during this time a group of Labour cabinet ministers, including Justice Minister Phil Goff, came to visit the worksite in Samoa during the 2005 Pacific Forum. Significantly, Goff spoke to both Sunan and Williams on site, the latter telling him they were working on Taito’s house. “One day we were working on the house. Taito brought, a convoy of cars arrived. The Samoan police commissioner, Samoan police, the NZ police commissioner, and I think a couple of other NZ police in uniform, Taito and all of the NZ MPs on the Pacific Forum – I think Swain was one, Goff, [Ross] Robertson, and he took them all around the house, all through the house. “Sunan and I were working on the house that day, and Goff came up and spoke with Sunan while Sunan was screening the floor, and he spoke to Sunan and then he turned around and spoke to me. He asked me what my name was, and I said ‘My name’s Keith Williams’. He said, ‘What are you doing?’, and I said we’re leveling the floors because the floors are all up the s**t, they’re not good enough for tiling, they’re not level, so we’ve got to screen them’. And he said, ‘Oh yeah, OK’, and then he left. “I don’t know what he said to Sunan because I couldn’t hear. As far as Goff was concerned I don’t know if he knew Sunan was Thai or Samoan, but he would have spoken to him in English because he couldn’t speak Samoan. But Goff spoke to Sunan and he spoke to me, but I don’t have a clue what he said to Sunan. Then he turned around and came to talk to me. And the NZ Police were standing there and saw Sunan and I working. The police could see we were working. All of the MPs walked around the house, even Swain, so they all saw us, that day.” So far, when Labour MP Ross Robertson was questioned by the Herald, he admitted gaining the “impression” that the two contractors were working, but there has been no suggestion in media reports of detailed conversations involving Justice Minister Phil Goff.

o now there are three Labour MPs in the gun as the Taito Phillip Field affair blows wider: the Prime Minister over why her office effectively prevented Williams from giving evidence to an inquiry the Prime Minister herself had established; the then Associate Immigration Minister Damien O’Connor over whether he did in fact have a special “arrangement” with Field to approve work permits; and Justice Minister Phil Goff over the substance of his conversation with both Sunan and Williams. On the subject of the Prime Minister’s office involvement in the supposedly independent inquiry, new evidence has emerged. Williams has provided information to Investigate establishing that the NZ Herald nearly broke that story three months ago, but chose not to. “The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet blocked a request for a key witness in the Ingram inquiry to have his legal advice paid for,” begins a draft story intended to have run in the Herald on Monday August 28. INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 29

“Public servants were however provided with legal advice by their departments.” The story continues: “Mr Williams had a falling out with Mr Field in Samoa and his lawyer advised him to ask the inquiry to provide legal advice for him if he gave evidence to Dr Ingram. “DPMC chief executive Maarten Wevers confirmed to the Herald that Dr Ingram had taken the request to him and he turned it down. ‘He was informed that it is the Crown’s longstanding practice not to pay individuals legal costs in this type of inquiry’.” The Herald story was substantial, but for reasons Investigate is unaware, it never ran despite the admission from the PM’s office that it had effectively blocked Williams. Before being made aware of the Herald story Investigate had already made its own inquiries with the Prime Minister’s office – asking the Prime Minister’s receptionist who the main liaison person was between the Ingram inquiry and the Prime Minister. “That’ll be Julian,” she said helpfully, directing our call to one of Helen Clark’s advisers, Julian Kersey, who refused to confirm or deny his role as a go-between on the Ingram inquiry. Although Maarten Wevers has now admitted to the Herald being the person who pushed the button on Williams’ nonappearance as a witness, Investigate is now curious as to what role if any Kersey played, given that the inquiry was supposed to be independent. Governments have, incidentally, in the past, paid legal costs – the Winebox Inquiry being one such example. As is now apparent, had Williams been able to testify the whole story would have been blown wide open and possibly saved taxpayers huge amounts of money caused by Ingram taking so long to figure out whether he was being duped by Field and his allies. On the subject of Damien O’Connor and the never-beforedisclosed special “arrangement”, O’Connor is on record denying any wrongdoing in a general sense: “I absolutely reject any suggestions that I have acted in any way inappropriately,” he told the Herald on September 2. Yet, as the Herald disclosed on August 4, you have to wonder. Documents show Taito Field had “successfully applied for 262 discretionary visas for immigrants – many of them overstayers – between 2002 and 2005”. Field’s main point of reference appears to have been Damien O’Connor, who admitted to the Ingram inquiry that he processed applications backed by MPs faster than those from ordinary migrants in the queue. Yet if Keith Williams is correct, Taito Field was boasting about some kind of quid-pro-quo “arrangement” with O’Connor. O’Connor has said he will co-operate with the police inquiry. It is a matter of record that in June 2005, around three months after tiling work began on Field’s house in Samoa, Damien O’Connor directed his officials to grant visas to both Sunan Siriwan and his de-facto wife, to work in New Zealand. The Ingram report also found four more Thai migrants who’d equally been granted visas in strange circumstances by O’Connor after representations from Field, and all four (or in one case the husband of an applicant) visited Samoa between May and June 2005 and are alleged to have also worked on the Labour MPs tropical palace. Damien O’Connor is now Minister of Corrections, in charge 30, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

of the country’s prisons, raising the spectre that two key figures in the administration of justice – himself and Justice Minister Phil Goff – may be drawn into the police investigation into political bribery and corruption. O’Connor because of claims that an “arrangement” existed to get permits approved, and Goff because he allegedly had material evidence and failed to provide it to the Ingram inquiry.

his is where things get murky for the Minister of Justice. Keith Williams wrote a letter dated August 3, 2005, to Prime Minister Helen Clark and Immigration Minister Paul Swain four weeks before Clark set up the Ingram inquiry, telling them some of what had taken place in Samoa and adding this relevant paragraph: “You, Sir [Swain], after the South Pacific Forum visited Mr Taito Phillip Field’s home along with the Hon Phil Goff…You and all members of the party were introduced to Mr Williams and Sunan Siriwan by Mr Taito Phillip Field.” So here is a letter, in the Prime Minister’s possession before she announced the Ingram inquiry, revealing that Goff had been introduced to Williams and Sunan while they worked on the house, and yet there is no indication Goff was called before the inquiry to disclose what he knew. Williams also says investigators may find his own fingerprints on the visa application forms: “I was asked by Taito to fill out an Immigration Application to New Zealand for Sunan, so it was an application for a work permit I think. Because Sunan can’t write English very well, so Taito asked me to fill it out for him, and he just left the form there. And when I left Samoa that form was still to my knowledge sitting in the bedroom or the garage. But I filled out an application for a work permit or something for NZ Immigration. And I think I filled out the application for his work visa in Samoa at Taito’s [Auckland] house. I filled out a form there.” Williams has been interviewed by police, and it was just after he gave statements to police that Field’s house, electorate office and parliamentary office were raided by detectives searching for evidence. Despite the seeming enthusiasm of police to get to the bottom of it, Williams has told Investigate Field is still trying to discredit him as a witness by raising red herrings. “They’re saying we had a few people up at the house, parties etc, some of his relatives are saying we had girls up there who were prostitutes, blah blah blah. And I said to police I’m not prepared to get into an argument about who said what about who in my personal life or Sunan’s personal life. “Sure, we had a few beers but we never had any prostitutes there and it’s irrelevant. I’m not even going to go there, but I’m telling you there’s never been any prostitutes involved. But we did have a couple of nights there where Sunan invited some people up there for a few drinks, but that’s irrelevant. It’s got nothing to do with it. My personal life is my business and so is Sunan’s. A person’s entitled to have a couple of beers after work. We were working hard.” With everything riding on this latest police investigation where all others have run aground despite having sufficient evidence to go to court, the Taito Phillip Field saga has a few miles to run yet.

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INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 31

An Irresistible

Force... The biggest challenge for John Hood

The New Zealander tasked with reforming Oxford University, Vice-Chancellor John Hood, puts the “immovable object” theory to the test, as SELWYN PARKER reports

32, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 33

t all started so well when John Hood delivered his inaugural address to the Congregation, Oxford University’s all-powerful “parliament”. It was two years ago – October 5, 2004 – and the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin was packed for the occasion. The impressively be-gowned Congregation, which is composed of the 3,500 academics without whose approval virtually nothing can happen at Britain’s oldest university, had come to hear what the first New Zealander in 900 years to hold the office of vice-chancellor had to say about an institution it regards as almost its own personal fiefdom. The dons, as they are called, didn’t know a lot about their new vice-chancellor. For some of them, it was a case of “John Who?” Not only was Hood the first kiwi to be “admitted” as vice-chancellor, he was the first to be appointed from outside the university’s current academic body. They were however aware he was a New Zealander who had forged a career mainly as a businessman, one of Fletcher Challenge’s top executives, rather than as an academic, despite occasional lecturing stints. Although the vice-chancellor’s role is administrative as well as academic, the job has historically gone to people who have distinguished themselves in the lecture rooms rather than in finance and management. The outgoing vice-chancellor, Sir John Lucas, was a specialist in French history, for example, and the last five vice-chancellors were respectively lawyer, zoologist, lawyer, philosopher, biophysicist. Here was a specialist in management, hardly a classic discipline, and it’s no secret that the dons were somewhat fearful of the reasons for this departure from tradition. The Congregation did however know that Hood had at least graduated from Oxford – a Rhodes scholar who “read” for an M.Phil in management studies a quarter century earlier. Indeed he could not otherwise have been considered for the position. But perhaps most alarmingly for the academics, the Oxford Times, which covers the university on a daily basis, and the academics’ own Oxford Magazine, had made much of Hood’s reforming five and a half years at the University of Auckland. Reform is not a subject with which the Congregation is in general comfortable. So as they gathered to hear the new chancellor’s address – an occasion that occurs only once every five to seven years, the question uppermost on the dons’ minds was exactly what a kiwi businessman was doing here. Oxford’s 295th vice-chancellor did not apologise for his origins. Surrounded by Sir Hugh Kawharu, Dr. Merimeri Penfold and Dame Anne Salmond, all of whom had come over especially for what was indisputably a landmark occasion even for Oxford, he reminded them of the ties between the university he had just left and the one he was joining. He pointed out there had long been a kiwi “mafia” at Oxford – a line of brilliant scholars and teachers. Indeed some of the latest representatives of that mafia were sitting right in front of him. And although certain members of the Congregation winced at Hood’s business-like references to the “Oxford brand” – a term that can be anathema among the dreaming spires, nobody could have taken offence at the respect and admiration he showed for this “great institution” whose “scholarship and research have been an unparalleled, civilizing force through the centuries, not only in this country, but also across the world.”

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Before he sat down, the new vice-chancellor intoned in Maori: Ma to rourou, Ma taku rourou, Ka ora ai te iwi [With your efforts, With our collective efforts, Our university will be sustained]. Overall it was a warm, humble but not platitudinous speech – as we’ll see, vice-chancellor Hood had his points to make – and nobody could possibly have taken offence at it. Yet within a few short months he was being described as “intolerable”, “disagreeable” and “authoritarian”. There were threats to force a vote of no confidence in him and rumours of resignation. What had gone wrong?

xford is the oldest university in the Englishspeaking world, and deeply aware of it. To say that Oxford is proud of its centuries of scholarship is similar to claiming the All Blacks like to play a bit of rugby. Teaching started here in 1096 and it became a universitas 775 years ago. The Master of Balliol, John Wycliffe, campaigned for a bible in ordinary English instead of Latin in the 14th century. Edmund Halley was professor of geometry. It’s the intellectual cradle of 25 prime ministers, most recently Harold Macmillan, Ted Heath, Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, as well as of scores of chancellors of the exchequer and other cabinet ministers. It’s perfectly accurate to say that modern Britain and the old Empire has to a significant extent been shaped by Oxford graduates. And what Oxford graduates failed to do, sister university Cambridge did most of the rest. This place can sometimes feel weighed down by its sense of history. If anything, today’s Oxford is even more of an intellectual hotbed. Quite apart from the formal teaching, practically every day of the week there are free, public lectures on a range of subjects broad enough for the most eclectic mind. When I was last there, I could have attended any one of a dozen lunchtime talks on subjects as varied as the efficient administration of revenue, the Punjab tradition in the 19th century, the structure of loyalty in revolutionary Macedonia, medicine in the 19th century and – for the seriously abstruse – the notion of justice in literature, religion and law. There’s no doubt that Hood, always a voracious reader, revels in all of this. “The scholarship is absolutely tremendous here”, he told me soon after visiting the music department that bears an official five-star rating. And right from the start, he threw himself into the university way of life. He pedals a bike to the office, attends sports events, and presides over the many formal events that fall to the vice-chancellor’s lot. But there’s a widespread recognition, at least outside elements of the Congregation, that Oxford University needs to change, which is why Hood was brought in. The appointments committee clearly felt the institution’s governance and financial management needed a spring clean and the New Zealander, uninhibited by local affiliations, was the new broom. “That’s why they got him,” explained Dr. Tim Cook of Isis Innovations, a highly successful organisation responsible for the commercialization of the university’s research and, as such, a symbol of where the university needs to go. Cook, was referring specifically to the looming issues of funding and governance. As one of the top three or five universities in the world, depending on who’s doing the ratings,

“within a few short months he was being described as “intoler able”, “disagreeable” and “authoritarian”. There were threats to force a vote of no confidence in him and rumours of resignation. What had gone wrong?”

Oxford is in a fiscal as well as an academic race. And compared with the lavishly endowed competition across the Atlantic, it’s a race it had been losing for decades. For example, firstranked Harvard, one of the much-feared Ivy League colleges which think nothing of poaching Britain’s top students, has an endowment of US$23bn at its disposal. That’s six times more than Oxford’s and it’s one reason why American universities occupy seven of the top ten spots in the global rankings.

he Congregation should however have seen the reforms coming, because Hood certainly signaled them in the inaugural address. After the pleasantries Hood made pointed references to Oxford’s “future financial sustainability”, its “persistent and serious fiscal constraints”, the importance of not resting on its laurels (“reputations built on the memorable successes of the past do not of themselves provide stable foundations for the future”), and the management challenges imposed by Oxford’s unique collegial system whereby 39 colleges run under a jealously guarded autonomy. Many academics appear to regard the office of vice-chancellor as little more than a necessary evil, the place where the dull work of administration is done while they get on with the true vocation of the university. However this is big business – the office’s normal revenue and expenditure is about £530m [NZ$1.48bn] a year – and it bears commensurate

responsibilities. The university has over 18,000 students and 7,000 staff studying and working in about 200 departments spread over 300 buildings. Then there are intellectual treasure troves such as the Bodleian Library, only second in size to the British Library, and international businesses such as Oxford University Press with an annual turnover of £450m. All up, the office of the vice-chancellor has immediate or overall responsibility for £1.1bn in revenue and endowments of £3.9bn. Not only is the vice-chancellor the university’s academic leader, he’s the money-man too. But under the university’s quirky and much-cherished system of government, the vice-chancellor carries little power. Anything big has to be referred to the Congregation for its approval where it will only prevail by what Hood describes as a superior set of arguments. “You can draw whatever lines you like on an organizational chart,” Hood explains. “But the power of argument is the deciding factor in an institution which is collegial by nature and is populated by extraordinarily talented people.” Although Congregation has a record of generally approving proposals from the vice-chancellor’s office, mainly because they are of a bureaucratic nature and relatively uncontentious, it can be a disputatious body when its dander is up. In the nineties it strenuously opposed the establishment of the Said Business School that has since become one of Oxford’s great successes, and it fought the award of an honorary PhD to one Maggie Thatcher, former chemistry graduate of Somerville College. INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 35

“Hood had no option but to withdraw proposals for staff appraisals and performance-based pay. It was clear the Congregation preferred things to stay as they were, at least when it came to the threat of assessment, never mind that their students face it on a daily basis”

Reform proceeds at a snail’s pace at Oxford, whatever the outside pressures. On the watch of Hood’s predecessor, the much-liked Sir John Lucas, minor changes in governance were slipped through Congregation, notably the introduction of external members onto Council, an advisory body. And a lot of budgetary and planning decisions were pushed down the line to four academic divisions. But these had been nearly a decade in the making, starting with Sir John’s predecessor. The people who appointed the New Zealander hoped he could speed things up a bit. In between getting out and about to meet students and staff (he has regular breakfasts with them) and streamlining systems in the office, Hood presided over the drawing up of a corporate plan. He also inherited the chairmanship of a working party on governance, the bogey issue for the Congregation. Both issues immediately got him into trouble. Released in early 2005, the corporate plan immediately drew flak for proposals which would be considered perfectly normal in most self-respecting organisations. Among fund-raising and other financial, relatively uncontentious issues, the corporate plan included daring provisions for staff appraisals, procedures for dealing with under-performing staff, and per36, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

formance-related pay. This was pure Hood, and affronted academics described the first as “bullying tactics” while their trade union, the Association of University Teachers (AUT), wouldn’t have a bar of the last. The student union also joined in the act over plans to increase the percentage of overseas students, alleging “severe problems” of racism at the University of Auckland when it did the same. For the first time there were whispers that this kiwi vicechancellor wanted to make his office all-powerful. “If you have stronger powers of central control, they can start to impinge on academic freedom and on the ability of academics to pursue whatever research they feel is necessary”, said AUT honorary secretary Terry Hoad. In fact the vice-chancellor’s office has steadily expanded to keep pace with its obligations – university income and expenditure has more than doubled in ten years. A chastened and, some say, angry Hood had no option but to withdraw proposals for staff appraisals and performance-based pay. It was clear the Congregation preferred things to stay as they were, at least when it came to the threat of assessment, never mind that their students face it on a daily basis. “It was like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas”, remarked an irreverent insider. Hood was getting nowhere fast and becoming frustrated. A

“So as they gathered to hear the new chancellor’s address – an occasion that occurs only once every five to seven years, the question uppermost on the dons’ minds was exactly what a kiwi businessman was doing here” report in The Independent, a national newspaper, claimed he had only narrowly been dissuaded from resigning. The honeymoon was clearly over. Next, Hood fell foul of the rebels on the much larger issue of governance. In September last year he was forced to drop plans for a new body of outsiders – “external representatives” – to oversee non-academic affairs. Once again the Congregation feared a takeover by external forces in which, as AUT secretary Terry Hoad told The Times Higher, bible of tertiary education in Britain, “ultimate control is left in the hands of people outside the university”. They were unimpressed by Hood’s argument that it is the outside world that is invading the dreaming inspires and forc-

ing change. Government, private donors, sponsors: all demand more transparent systems of governance. While Hood tried to stay focused on the big issues, another debate began about whether the role of vice-chancellor was too much for him. A professor of physics, Dr. Susan Cooper, suggested in an article in the Oxford Magazine that “we are currently expecting too much of one person” and that the job should be split into two – one vice-chancellor for management and finance, and one for academic affairs. It could not have helped that, with the spotlight on him, Hood and his wife Ann separated in November 2005 and she returned to New Zealand. Convention required that the vicechancellor write a formal letter, announcing the fact, to the INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 37

heads of all 39 colleges. By now the saga was turning into a plot worthy of Corridors of Power, the 1964 best-seller by chemist and physicist C.P. Snow about backroom machinations at Cambridge University.

f it were possible, things deteriorated further in early 2006 when a rump of disgruntled dons began to agitate for an unprecedented vote of no-confidence in Hood. In earlier centuries the university had cheerfully tolerated vicechancellors who were ineffective time-servers, stooges of royalty, intellectual frauds, rabid bigots, even burners of heretics. Here was a move to oust a vice-chancellor attempting to introduce a modicum of reform after only 18 months in office. The rebels professed alarm at a grab for power by the interloper from New Zealand. “Many of us believe that Hood thinks of the new governance structure as a lever by which he can increase his own power, cutting out insiders and bringing in outsiders who will do his bidding”, declared Dr. Peter Oppenheimer, an authority on Hebrew and Jewish studies. The vice-chancellor was “absolutely intolerable”, “very disagreeable”, and a man who had shown “contempt for Oxford’s well-established particular style of government.” He was behaving much more like a chief executive than “the head of a very conscientious university”. This was by now a common complaint. “He acted too much like a chief executive. He did not listen enough,” says a scientist and businessman. However reasonable people tell me the general insinuation that the New Zealander is riding rough-shod over the hallowed traditions of Oxford was blatantly unfair. They say he just happens to be a convenient target. Reforms to the institution’s governance started as far back as 1993, under the lawyer vicechancellor Sir Peter North, and Hood simply inherited them. As chairman of a highly representative working party involved in the reforms, he walked into a statutory five-year review of the modest changes achieved in 2000. But anything was grist for the mill. When Dr. Julie Maxton, former dean of law at the University of Auckland, was appointed in early 2005 to the position of registrar at Oxford, there were further rumblings of discontent about a kiwi hi-jack, never mind that she was picked for the job after a global search by an appointments committee which included the vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, or that she’s a Scot by birth and education. One of the rebels, David Palfreyman, bursar of New College, was convinced that discontent with the vice-chancellor now ran the gamut of the university, stretching right across colleges and disciplines. “It’s quite an achievement to unite so many people”, he said. “His departure can’t be far off”. By now the Oxford Times was carrying stories headlined “Rebels push for vote on Oxford V-C” and “Trouble brewing at Oxford”. Then out of the blue, the embattled vice-chancellor turned the corner when the heavy artillery came out in support of him. In a letter published in The Times, The Times Higher and the Oxford Magazine, the signatories declared their faith in the governance reforms, in Dr. Hood’s “grip of the challenges facing the university and in his determination to face up to them in Oxford’s interests.” The signatories included the university’s intellectual crème de la crème – the lords, dames and professors heading nine of the

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independent colleges. About the same time, 57 academics signed a letter to the Oxford Magazine in which they dissociated themselves from the “unfortunate and inappropriate statements made to the press by certain members of the University of Oxford.” Other individuals began to pop their heads above the parapet, like historian James Howard-Johnston who declared that it would be “catastrophic if Dr. Hood were to leave or be driven out. He is efficient, energetic, with good management skills.” With things turning in his favour, Hood cleared the next hurdle in June. That was when the revised white paper on governance, the result of 18 months of endless consultation, was presented to the Congregation at The Sheldonian, the noble Christopher Wren-designed building that is the venue for many of Oxford’s ceremonial occasions. The white paper’s main proposal was for an academic board with members drawn from the Congregation and colleges, plus a more outward-looking university council with a majority of external local members. It did however entrench the powers of the Congregation by among other things making it easier for it to pass a vote of no confidence in the council. Although a group of rebel dons had produced an alternative white paper based on “constructive reforms” rather than “sweeping reorganizations”, there was almost no dissent in The Sheldonian. It could not have hurt that the famously in-a-hurry Hood, who has not yet lost his habit of saying “yep, yep” as he waits for people to make their point, pointed out to the gathering that “this [white paper] is not about telling academics what to do.” They must have noticed this was a big climb-down from performance appraisals and performance-based pay. Nor could it have hurt the general mood that Oxford had just been ranked by The Times as third-best university in the world and Britain’s top tertiary institution for the fifth year in a row, ahead of deadly rival Cambridge. (Hugely-endowed Harvard was rated first.) “Putting the right governance arrangements in place is vital if we are to maintain the academic pre-eminence and global reputation of Oxford University”, said the vice-chancellor.

ood was due to face the final hurdle in November just as this magazine went on sale. That’s when the Congregation reassembles in The Sheldonian on the 14th to vote on the white paper. Like most other things about Oxford, this is not a simple process. Because the building, which was designed for an earlier, less populated Oxford, cannot accommodate all the academics, there has to be a postal vote. This will take several weeks and could run into early 2007. But the rebels haven’t yet shown their hand. They did not, for instance, turn up to the June hearing on the white paper, and the vice-chancellor’s office does not think they will go quietly. That’s why in the run-up to the vote, Hood has kept a low profile. According to his staff, he is spending his time attempting to win over any dissenters by a superior set of arguments. He must however be encouraged by the growing groundswell of support for the reforms – “a sophisticated and intellectual package”, approved the master of Balliol. By normal corporate standards, the reforms are unexceptional. By those of Oxford University however, they are epoch-making. If vice-chancellor John Hood gets them through, he will establish his own place in this extraordinary institution’s history.

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WHERE SCIENCE FAITH& COLLIDE FIVE DOCUMENTED MEDICAL MIRACLES THAT CAN’T BE EXPLAINED

For centuries the question of the existence of miracles has vexed philosophers, scientists, skeptics and believers alike. While intellectual arguments about the existence of God have raged to and fro, quietly in the background miracles keep flowing on a daily basis around the world. Many miracles take place without being witnessed by TV crews or scientists, but here are some whose credibility can’t be questioned. IAN WISHART examines five miracles documented at major NZ and US hospitals that defy natural explanations

Additional reporting by Ken Hulme, Rick Settoon, Gorman Woodfin of the CBN Network, USA

40, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

MIRACLE 1

DOCUMENTED BY MAYO CLINIC, USA, 1981 MARLENE KLEPEES: CURED OF CEREBRAL PALSY

o a search on Google. Punch in the words, “cured of cerebral palsy”. Of the more than four billion pages now indexed by the world’s largest search engine, only 26 carry the phrase “cured of cerebral palsy”, and only in the negative. One famous international author once traveled to Lourdes in France, hoping the waters would deliver him from his own cerebral palsy. They didn’t, and he wrote a book about it. It is a medical condition, as the expert websites will tell you, that has no cure. Which makes the first of these miracles even more stunning: From the moment of her birth in the early 1960s, Marlene Klepees’ life was hard. Real hard. Weighing little more than a

kilo at birth, this tiny child developed cerebral palsy as a result of the birth trauma. It’s a condition that afflicts millions of people worldwide, to varying degrees, and is often caused by oxygen deprivation at birth or some kind of similar medical misadventure. As those affected grow older their conditions often worsen – their bodies simply refusing to obey motor commands and becoming disfigured and twisted. Muscular spasms can set in, and although the sufferer’s mental capacity and IQ are unaffected they are increasingly trapped in a flesh and blood jail cell from which they can no longer even communicate. So right from the get-go, Marlene had been dealt what many would call a dud hand. It was, however, about to get worse. When she was just one year old, Marlene’s parents were killed in a motorbike crash. Alone, afflicted and barely conscious of the world around her, the little girl was sent to live with her great-grandparents and – when they became too old to care for her – foster parents. She remembers her school years, and that she didn’t have many playmates. Children, especially in the sixties and seventies, didn’t understand as much about disabilities as they do now. But she did have some friends who cared, and when a Christian youth rally came to her Missouri hometown in the early seventies those friends took 12 year old Marlene with them. Crippled and unable to walk, the message of a Father in Heaven nonetheless resonated with the girl who’d never had the chance to know her own father. She made a decision, at the age of 12, to pray the prayer of salvation and commit her life to Jesus Christ. “I was his, and he was my Dad,” Marlene told the US Christian TV network CBN earlier this year, “and that was it, forever. I just thought that if I was born with cerebral palsy, I must be born with it because God created me that way. I didn’t realize he wanted people healed. I didn’t realize he wanted good things for everyone, so, at first, I just thought ‘Well, there’s got to be a reason for it. He’s smarter than I am’.” Despite becoming a Christian, however, Marlene’s condition worsened. Some of her muscular spasms during her teenage years were severe enough to leave her caregivers with broken bones themselves. Marlene became almost totally paralysed from the neck down with ‘contractures’ – where elastic ligaments between joints and muscles turn fibrous and rigid, resulting in permanent, claw-like deformity, and she could no longer see without the aid of very heavy corrective lenses. In an interview with Investigate, she spells it out. “I was a quadriplegic. Gosh, there wasn’t much I could do. I could communicate some, I could see some, I could hear totally fine.” That was the frustrating part: trapped in a body where she could hear and understand everything, but communicate very little. With what was left of her endowment money following the deaths of her family, Marlene’s caregivers turned to the world’s leading research hospital, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, as their final hope for Marlene. Perhaps there was some new experimental drug, therapy or surgery that could give the teenager a better quality of life. In December 1980, Marlene Klepees was wheeled into St Mary’s Hospital – part of the Mayo Clinic facility, where a barrage of tests and treatments began. But nothing worked. There was no improvement and, after four months, the money was running out. The decision was INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 41

made to discharge Marlene into the care of a Missouri nursing home for the rest of her natural life – she was not yet aged 20. In despair, Marlene remembers crying out to God in tears, thumping the arm of her wheelchair with her clawed hand. And that’s when she received a vision. “The vision,” she says softly to herself as she talks to Investigate down a phone line from Missouri. “I first saw a young lady out riding her bike on beautiful green grass, then I saw myself inside a church. I didn’t recognize the church, but I was still in my wheelchair. I had on rust-coloured corduroy pants, a striped velour shirt, there’s a few people gathered around praying for me and there’s one man in particular that God showed me in more detail – he was tall, blond-haired, had on a grey pinstriped suit, and then at the end of the vision in great big bold black letters it gave a date of March 29th, three weeks hence. “I knew it was from God. There was no question I knew it was from the Lord. They were getting ready to send me back to Missouri to a nursing home, so I thought that’s what was going to happen. But it didn’t. And I thought I was seeing the inside of a church in Missouri, and obviously I hadn’t because on the 28th of March I was still laying there in Three Mary Brigh (a ward in the Mayo Clinic’s St Mary’s Hospital), and nothing had changed during that period of time.” By this time, the three weeks had almost passed with no visible 42, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

change in Marlene’s circumstances, and the church in her vision may as well have been a million miles away. The following day, March 29, was supposed to be the day she would be healed. “I thought that God really wanted to heal me, but there wasn’t any way he was going to do it, because I really truly thought that I’d sinned or something. Because I thought, how was he going to get me to that church? I knew he could heal me but I didn’t understand how he was going to get me somewhere when there wasn’t anybody to get me there.” Again, she cried out in her heart to God, asking him to deliver the miracle. “[God] spoke to me, and he said to have the nurse get the Yellow Pages and he would give the name of the church and the person who’d be praying for me. And when morning came and the nurse looked through the Yellow Pages, there was two lines that glowed off the page: Open Bible, Scott Emerson, and a phone number. And the nurse called the number and the pastor came down. “That was probably the neatest part: the pastor went looking for several hours before he found us. The nurse had given the room number and he didn’t get the room number down right and he went looking from room to room until he found us.” When the nurse opened the door, standing there was a blondhaired man wearing the grey pinstripe suit Marlene had seen in her vision.

“And then he came in, and agreed that the vision was the inside of his church. But he didn’t seem anxious to take us there at all. Finally they start asking questions and he says ‘Yes, our church believes in healing but we’ve never had any, and you plan on me starting on this one?!’ ” Little wonder that Emerson was skeptical. As he looked at the racked and paralysed body facing him, he found it hard to believe that his prayer and his church could truly change Marlene’s life. Especially as no one has ever been cured of cerebral palsy. But Marlene knew she would be. “The nurse had already got a pass from the doctor and they loaded me in his car and took me to the church. It wasn’t anything all that different. They pushed me up to the front, they anointed me with oil and they started to pray. I really didn’t feel anything. “They asked if I wanted to stand up on faith and I didn’t know what that really meant. But when they stood me up the contractures fell out of my body, my feet hit the floor and I felt the floor for the first time in my life. Now I didn’t walk pretty, it was ugly. But every lap we made the better it got. “I don’t know there was anything going through my mind except ‘God is so good!’ The thing that I realized, and the thing that I know, is that God didn’t pick me or choose me for anything. Yes, he picked or chose me for a purpose, but my healing didn’t have anything to do with the purpose of my life, it’s for everyone. And I knew that. I knew it wasn’t a reward for anything. “Everything worked. There wasn’t anything that didn’t move. I started off pigeon-toed, but we just kept on making laps. The people praying for me understood more than I did, they were screaming and yelling and jumping. It was non-stop.” Scott Emerson, the pastor who prayed for her that day, in a little church with only seven worshippers, remembers the event as if it were yesterday. “Her knees and her toes pointed together, and everything was pointed in,” he told the CBN network. “But with each step that she took, they started to straighten out. And as her toes and her knees straightened out she got stronger and stronger. She took a few steps on her own, and then was literally running around the church.” And in case anyone is still muttering coincidence, or the power of suggestion, there’s still the issue of Marlene’s near blindness: “My eyesight was healed, totally. Instant. Prior to that I wore glasses, they were thick, they were prisms. My eyes got really warm, and I took off the glasses, and instantaneously I could see. There wasn’t anything I even had to do to get that to work. “That was Sunday night. On Monday [Mayo] ran all kinds of tests on me, and on Tuesday I spoke in front of a whole bunch of doctors in this conference room. And they actually applauded when I walked in. They asked me questions and I started answering them, and I went home that afternoon. “All of them admitted it was something greater than them. I mean, they knew it had been some form of miracle. People talk all the time about doctors not being receptive and that’s just hard for me to relate to. Because I don’t think there’s many doctors who haven’t seen a miracle.” Today, 25 years later, Marlene Klepees bears no signs of the disease that kidnapped her childhood. She rides her bike through green fields, she runs a floral business, and she tells lit-

tle churches throughout America about the day God healed a cripple and let the blind see. But it is the records from the Mayo Clinic, arguably the world’s most prestigious medical research facility, that perhaps offer the last compelling word on this particular miracle: “You returned to the rehabilitation unit that evening walking, something you’d never done since your admission to the unit. And when I saw you back at the clinic some weeks later, you’d improved even more. All signs of previous abnormality were gone. You were able to walk perfectly normal, and your eyesight had improved so much that you did not need to wear spectacles. We were all very thrilled and happy with the outcome of your condition.”

MIRACLE 2

DOCUMENTED BY STARSHIP HOSPITAL, AUCKLAND, 2001 ETHAN FALETAOGO: CURED OF LEUKAEMIA

hen six year old Auckland boy, Ethan Faletaogo, went to his doctor, feeling unwell, his mother wasn’t ready for the diagnosis that followed a barrage of medical tests a few hours later. Ethan, explained medics at Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital, had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a particularly aggressive form of the bone marrow cancer. “I was just a wreck, a wreck, just knowing that I had this healthy boy and then a week later finding out he wasn’t healthy at all and he was going to die,” remembers Ethan’s mum Ripene today. “My whole world came down. Not knowing God at that time, my sister came – who was saved – so it was a whole change.” Starship placed Ethan on chemotherapy in an effort to control the leukaemia, but the child developed complications: an opportunistic, parasitic fungal infection called rhizopus set in to his lungs. As the medical journals note, rhizopus is “usually fatal” in its own right, and in pediatric cases nearly always. It is not a common infection: in more than 15 years of operation, New Zealand’s premier children’s hospital had never had a case until Ethan’s. The doctors warned Ethan’s family that survival was now touch and go. They suggested it might be time to contact a priest. To a mostly non-Christian family, the turn of events was shocking. But Ethan’s auntie was a Christian, and she rang Josephine, a Christian friend, and asked her to come in and pray for the stricken boy. It was the night of September 11, 2001, in New Zealand and across the world a group of Islamic terrorists claiming to represent their god were just boarding four airliners as early morning broke on America’s east coast. But in Auckland, just after midnight, it was life, not death, being preached. Josephine stood beside a small boy’s bedside while relatives looked on, and began to pray for a real miracle. She told Investigate she had a vision of a large black mass in the child’s lungs, and Jesus Christ showed her the mass shrinking away to nothing. For the relatives gathered, it was a bittersweet moment. Wasn’t this whole Christ business a myth? Was all this hocuspocus just giving them false hope? Ethan’s auntie turned to her sister to reassure her, remembers Ripene Faletaogo. “She said to me, ‘There is a God who knows, and who can take away your pain.’ INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 43

so many times because the nurse had warned us the growth was likely to have swollen, but when we went into the scan it was actually gone. They kept on looking at the scans, because they couldn’t understand why. “Then they said, ‘We’ve got good news, there’s nothing there anymore’. “They were stunned, they just didn’t know what had happened. They were really unsure because they kept going back in and looking at Ethan, doing little tests and all that, but what really hit us was the nurse sitting in the room with us. She said to us, ‘If you believe in miracles, you’re looking at one right now’. “But the medical staff, the excitement in their eyes. They had no idea how, and they knew at that time about our faith. I continued to share with them that we had faith in God, and it wasn’t my faith but more Ethan’s faith.” Not only had the rhizopus infection almost totally disappeared. So too had the leukaemia. “The leukaemia, he’d been off treatment by then for several weeks, and when they operated on him [to confirm the disappearance of the rhizopus] they found the leukaemia had gone too.” Today, five years later, at the insistence of medics, Ethan and his mother still make six monthly visits to Starship just to check his health. Each time, it’s been perfect. The same nurses are still on the ward, says Ripene. “They just say, ‘Here comes our miracle boy’.”

MIRACLE 3 Ethan today, aged 11

“I just thought, ‘Yeah, whatever’. I had nothing to lean on, and all I had was what the doctors were telling me, but I did turn to God and said, ‘If you’re real, and you really know our situation, then show me’.” But as is so often the way, Ripene’s wavering faith was about to be sorely tested. “Straight after I’d prayed, we walked into a meeting with the doctors and they told me Ethan only had between a day and three weeks left to live. Josephine [the woman who’d prayed over Ethan] was with us and she looked at me and said, ‘No matter what happens, God is in control’.” Six year old Ethan, weak and close to death, then told his mother what had happened during the prayer. “When she prayed over me, I just felt like I was walking through a long hallway, and that I was free, like I was leaving the hospital.” He then told his mother, “Don’t worry Mum, God’s going to heal me”. “That’s when it hit me,” admits Ripene now. “That was the first time I cried. I’d never cried in front of Ethan even though I saw the pain he went through and his hair falling out, his eyelashes and everything, his whole body swelling up. I saw his pain, but I never cried in front of him. That was the only time I cried – hearing Ethan say that God was going to heal him. I knew then that God was there for us. “Three days later they went for a scan, but they had to test it 44, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

DOCUMENTED BY AURORA MEDICAL CENTRE, WISCONSIN, 2001 CINDY ASMUS: CURED OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE

t’s another one of those phrases worth Googling just for the sheer fun of seeing next to nothing turn up. Only a handful of references on the entire internet to “cured of Parkinson’s”, mostly referring to the future possibility of someone like Michael J. Fox being “cured of Parkinson’s” if stem cell treatment is permitted. There is currently no known cure for Parkinson’s and no medically recorded case of it disappearing. Except this one. At the age of 44, Wisconsin-based Cindy Asmus knew something was wrong. “It would take me a really long time to try and make my fingers work. I had to think, ‘I’m going to do this’. Even tying my shoe, brushing and flossing my teeth, holding onto a pen and writing were hard to do,” she told CBN’s miracle special. Initially the symptoms were merely annoying. Then, after a couple of years, they degenerated into the uncontrollable tremors typical of Parkinson’s. Doctors broke the bad news, and it didn’t go down well with a woman who’d been a devout Christian. “You pray all the time that God wasn’t going to let this happen. It actually does get diagnosed. There’s a part that thinks, ‘I’ve been before the elders. Like his word says, I’ve been anointed, we’ve prayed and we’ve claimed’. Yet I was still diagnosed with it. That was hard.” For a woman who’d once been active, simple things became epic voyages of frustration. “I was trying to put the cap back on the pen, and my brother in law was watching me trying to get it. I finally had to line my

hands against the table to put the cap on the pen because it was really hard even to do that.” Like many Christians who suffer, her overarching prayer was always, ‘Why me?’ Finally, after deciding she could take it no more, Cindy responded to one more offer of prayer. “I came to church on Sunday, and the pastor had done an altar call – if anybody needed prayer, if anybody needed anything, come up. I went up to the altar and just knelt there. I said, ‘God, you have got to help me because I can’t deal with this anymore’. A peace started coming over me. At that time, that wonderful small voice of God came and said, ‘I’m going to heal you, but it is not time yet’.” They say the Lord moves in mysterious ways, and his timing is equally so. Nothing further happened for months, until a midweek Bible study night in June 2001. “It wasn’t this big, special night that anything particular happened. We always have a prayer request at the end and we pray for needs. At the very end of that, the pastor walked over – which he had done so many times before – and prayed for this illness to leave. “As he started praying, it was like I began to shake a little bit more. I don’t even know how long we prayed. All of a sudden, everything stopped, every bit of shaking stopped. All I kept thinking was, ‘I’m not shaking. I’m not shaking anymore’. That’s all I kept thinking because I hadn’t been able to still my hands in months. “It was so unreal to just sit there and be still and not have any part of my body move.” Today, Cindy Asmus’ life has returned to normal: shoelaces, stairs, writing, eating – none of those mundane tasks pose a challenge anymore. Investigate spoke to Dr Eric Duwell, Cindy’s physician in Wisconsin, who confirmed the CBN report on her case was accurate.

MIRACLE 4

DOCUMENTED BY VANDERBILT CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, TENNESSEE, 2004 ETHAN STACY: CURED OF LEUKAEMIA

nother Ethan, another documented medical miracle. In this case, newborn Ethan Stacy developed acute myelogenous leukaemia, a particularly nasty strain of the bone marrow cancer similar to the one that hit New Zealand’s Ethan Faletaogo. Barely three weeks old, Ethan’s parents Mandy and Chad had to do what no parent should have to – find a burial plot for their baby son in a Nashville cemetery. As they walked between the gravestones on their grim task, back at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital their tiny son was already in the care of a hospice nurse, his body in the final stages of shutting down. Speaking to Investigate at the end of a late shift, Dr Melissa Rhodes, one of the lead pediatric oncologists on his case, again confirms the CBN network story we’re chasing was accurate. As she explained to CBN: “Children who are actually born with leukaemia don’t usually do very well. The best that we could offer was to put Ethan through difficult chemotherapy and still not know that he would make it through.”

For Ethan’s parents, it was an agonizing choice. Doctors confirmed the chemotherapy was so toxic to newborns it could actually make his survival chances harder. “We came home and I remember lying in bed and praying,” Mandy told CBN. “We said ‘God, give us an answer’. We both woke up the next morning and both said, ‘Nope, we’re not going to put him through it’. And so, with the agreement of the medical team, Chad and Mandy took their critically ill son home to whatever fate awaited him. But again, things were about to go from bad to worse. A case of baby spots – common in newborns – flared up because of the leukaemia and the spots themselves turned into skin tumours. “Leukaemia itself means cancer of the blood,” Dr Rhodes told CBN. “But in this particular kind of leukaemia it can also go out into the tissues. That’s what we believe was happening with Ethan. He actually had leukaemia in his skin, in his hands, his feet and his legs, as well as in his liver and spleen which is more common. So he was showing that he had a very advanced disease at that point.” There was little that could be done, the hospital advised, and his parents continued to nurse him at home. Ethan stopped eating as his life force began to ebb away before his parents’ eyes. “[The nurse] told me that he might develop what’s called sepsis, which would be a total body infection, and that he would go peacefully or he might haemorrhage,” his mother told the INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 45

network. “I would see blood in his diaper or maybe coming out of his ears. I was so scared to open up his diaper to even change it.” The hospice team arrived at the house to take over Ethan’s care – a sure sign the end was nigh for Mandy and Chad’s darling baby boy, but through a mother’s tears the words of a Christian song came to mind. “I remember rocking him and singing, ‘Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. I want to see you’. I knew that if I just focused my mind on Christ that’s the only way I could make it through.” It wasn’t so much a prayer as a final, desperate cry from the heart as Mandy struggled to hold on to what was slipping away. And looking back, she’s convinced that’s when God heard her and stepped in. Later that evening, Ethan’s appetite returned. Just little sips, but it was enough to give his parents hope. “I remember sitting at the kitchen table and saying, ‘I believe God’s healing him. I can see God working’. Then he just gradually started getting better. And over the next week, we were back up to six ounces of formula every three hours,” says Mandy. The hospital called Ethan back in to double check what was happening with his leukaemia. When the test results came through at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, the medics were staggered. Despite having terminal blood cancer, Ethan’s platelets count had recovered to 415,000 – normal range – from a low of 39,000 when he’d been sent home to die. Dr Rhodes admits it was a surprise. “Ethan had gotten about as sick as a baby could possibly get and then spontaneously got better. So we wanted to look. We did the bone marrow test, which showed no evidence of leukaemia. The tumours gradually went down over a period of probably a week or so. It was just remarkable to witness it.” Speaking to Investigate about those events, Dr Rhodes says Ethan’s recovery was indeed miraculous, and while in his case there is a possible scientific explanation – even that would defy current medical knowledge. We asked about the possible scientific explanation. “When babies with Down Syndrome are born,” says Rhodes, “they sometimes have a condition called Transient MyeloDysplasia (TMD). TMD looks just like acute leukemiahigh white blood cell count with “blasts”, low red blood cell count, low platelet count, and the babies can get quite sick. If you do a bone marrow biopsy, it looks and tests like leukemia. “With TMD, doctors watch and wait and many times it goes away. If the baby gets too sick, you have to treat it with chemo like regular leukemia. Babies who have TMD with spontaneous remission have a 25-35% chance of developing true leukemia, usually within the first few years of life. The remainder do fine. “TMD is known only to occur in children with Down’s Syndrome. Ethan does not have Down Syndrome, so he was diagnosed with acute leukemia, not with TMD. His leukemia acted like TMD, except most babies with Down’s Syndrome we would have given a bit of chemo when they got as sick as Ethan got (they have an ok prognosis if you get them through the rough spell). The prognosis of congenital leukemia is very poor, so we did not push Ethan’s family to treat. When he got better spontaneously, we wondered if his true diagnosis was TMD, but as I said, he does not have any evidence of Down’s Syndrome.” Given that Ethan received no chemotherapy at all, and didn’t 46, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

have Down’s, Dr Rhodes concedes that the only possible medical explanation isn’t very convincing, even to doctors. “You can see why it is a bit complicated and why it is not such a great scientific explanation that it diminishes the miracle of his recovery.” Today, Ethan Stacy is nearly three years old, and in perfect health.

MIRACLE 5

DOCUMENTED BY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF PITTSBURGH, USA, 1999 LOGAN KNUPP: CURED OF MULTIPLE CANCERS

t eight months of age, Logan Knupp was just like any other baby boy: the apple of his parents’ eyes. When Alan and Lisa Knupp noticed their son starting to get cross-eyed from time to time, they initially didn’t realize it was serious. But a series of tests at Pittsburgh’s Children’s Hospital soon put paid to that. “When they told us, ‘Don’t plan his first birthday’, they were being honest,” Lisa Knupp told the CBN network in the States. “When you’re first told that it’s a cancerous tumour, your mind automatically says…he’s going to die,” says father Alan. Surgeons explained that tiny Logan had a golf-ball sized tumour on his brain, and that they would try to operate to save the infant’s life the next day. That evening, beside Logan’s hospital bed, Lisa Knupp believes an angel came to the doorway in the soft twilight of a darkened children’s ward. “I didn’t see a face. It was just an outline. All I heard was, ‘You’re going to see a miracle.’ I know it was an angel. It was all this bright light, and you couldn’t see a face.” As Logan emerged from the theatre the next day, there was good news and bad. He’d survived the operation and the brain tumour had been removed. But the cancer was malignant and had already spread. In medical terms it was a metastatic tumour

Before: The pen points to the white mass of the tumor

AFTER

called a glioma, nearly always fatal. Pediatric oncologist Regina Jakacki, one of America’s leading doctors in her field chosen to head National Institutes of Health medical studies, took the Knupps through the diagnosis, showing them the MRI scans. “This large mass is the tumour,” she explained. “You can see it best coating the brain stem here where this thick white is coating the front part of the brain stem.” Another MRI scan followed, and Dr Jakacki confirmed the worst: the tumour had spread the entire length of baby Logan’s spinal cord. “Normally there is dark around the entire outside of the cord. You see this white, lumpy stuff in front surrounding the cord going all the way down – that’s all tumour.” For Lisa and Alan Knupp, the angel’s reassuring promise suddenly seemed a long, long way away. “I can remember, I have three older brothers, and they were in the hallway,” Alan told CBN. “They just held me up and cried with me. I thought it was the end. I mean, I thought it was just a matter of days until he died.” “I felt like the walls had just caved in,” says Lisa. “I hit rock bottom, like the whole world just stopped. Everything stopped.” Doctors warned the family to prepare for the inevitable. “The prognosis for cure was slim to none,” says Dr Jakacki. “The prognosis is very bad when you have a child whose tumour has spread and you can’t use radiation without damaging the brain to the point it’s not worth doing it.” After a crisis meeting, they opted to give Logan a low dose of chemotherapy, the first of what would be many at the rate of one a month. Because Logan’s tumour was “very aggressive”, there was a danger it would actually grow bigger by feeding on the chemotherapy itself.

“We don’t want to give a lot of chemotherapy if it’s not going to work,” says Dr Jakacki. Then, in echoes of Starship Hospital’s Ethan Faletaogo, the family turned to their church and a Christian woman named Marty who prayed for baby Logan. “There was an overwhelming awareness that God was healing him right then,” Marty told CBN. “As I prayed, I actually was aware that God was literally severing this cancer. I saw him lay an ax to the base of the cancer, and the tumour was being totally severed, totally destroyed.” The next morning, Logan was due for another MRI scan, but the results astounded the MRI technician – the tumour on the spine had vanished. “I even called the attending radiologist that was on that day,” says the MRI tech. “We reloaded his previous scan and compared them, and there was absolutely nothing there. It was incredible, nothing short of a miracle.” Doubting the MRI, doctors took a spinal tap to check the physical evidence at the cellular level. It too came back blank. Logan was cancer free. Reviewing the MRI’s for the TV network, Jakacki took viewers through the changes: “There is no longer any tumour coating the spinal cord at all. Now you can see the normal spinal fluid around the outside of the spinal cord, which is no longer swollen. There are no white areas at all where there used to be. There is a complete disappearance of all visible tumours. That is miraculous.” Logan Knupp is about to turn eight years old, and fighting fit. The oncologist who treated him, Dr Regina Jakacki, told Investigate from Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital: “I consider his recovery miraculous and I have not seen anything as dramatic since then.” INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 47

Why Do Miracles Happen?

By Ian Wishart

lthough the word “miracle” is bandied about by many religions, it means different things to each. In pure Buddhism, the world is an illusion and therefore any miracle in the world is equally illusory. Because Buddhism, like other Eastern religions, does not recognize a personal God interacting with Creation, the idea of “miracle” in the Christian

sense is an alien concept. Instead, BuddhaNet records Buddhist “miracles” as “being able to multiply oneself, fly through the air, hear things over a long distance, read other people's minds, remember one's former lives and know how to destroy the defilements of the mind. Only the last three of these is considered to be important. There is little doubt that the Buddha had a cautious attitude to these and other miraculous powers. He pointed out that they could simply be due to magic or fraud rather than genuine spiritual accomplishments.” In sharp contrast to the self-focused “miracles” of Buddhism, Christianity’s miracles in the New Testament concentrate primarily on relieving the suffering of others, and demonstrating God’s power to intervene directly in the affairs of men.

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“As you go,” Christ told his disciples at Matt. 10:7-8, “preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near’. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Theologian Norman Geisler, at Southern Evangelical Seminary in the US, says miracles serve three functions: to glorify the nature of God, to underline the truth and power of Christ so that the public may recognize Christian leaders are preaching with the authority of God, and lastly to provide evidence and a rational basis for belief in God. Miracles provide extraordinary evidence to validate extraordinary claims. Genuine miracles come from God, not from the person doing the praying. Yet ask many church pastors and they’ll tell you healing miracles can be a double-edged sword. Why are some healed and not others? Marlene Klepees, the woman cured of cerebral palsy, tells Investigate she has a theory. “I truly believe it’s God’s will for everyone to be healed. Let me explain just a little bit: just like I believe it’s God’s will that everyone be born again and have Jesus in their heart. A lot of people won’t, but it doesn’t mean [God’s] hand was too short or his blood didn’t work. But, the other thing to think about is:

the apostle Peter’s shadow healed them all. But they weren’t all saved in his shadow, but they were all healed. “So I believe this with all of me – the greatest evangelistic tool on Earth today is healing and restoration. Matthew 9:6 says ‘The reason God heals is so that all men may know he has power on Earth to forgive sin”. And I believe that’s why Jesus went around healing everyone – so the crowds could understand the authority that Christ had on the Earth to forgive sin.” She also thinks miracle healings don’t rely so much on faith as on a genuine compassion and an obedient heart. “You know what, I don’t think it takes much faith. Galatians 5:6 says faith works through love. Jesus said about the centurion, ‘I’ve not seen so great a faith in all of Israel’, and the centurion was not even serving the Lord. Here was a man who had servants but he chose to go and walk on the behalf of one of those servants – to put effort out – and God saw it.” As to skeptics who deny miracles, or suggest that prayer is simply false hope, Marlene points to her Mayo Clinic records and the reality that no one has ever been cured of cerebral palsy, but only by the hand of God. “[Miracles] obviously do happen! I’m very blessed. I literally see miracles on a daily to weekly basis – I mean, I see them all the time. Regularly. I hardly ever have a week without a miracle – major ones. God’s just good.” And then there are those, even Christians, who don’t see them at all. For some, it is because their church no longer believes in miracles, or because they mistakenly believe miracles were only given to Jesus’ first disciples, and not to all Christians since. But again, as Norman Geisler notes, not even those who witness miracles are guaranteed to accept them. “Not all witnesses to a miracle believe. In this event, the miracle is a witness against those who reject this evidence. John grieved: ‘Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him’. (Jn 12:37) “Jesus himself said of some, ‘They will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead’ (Lk 16:31).” One of Christ’s own disciples, doubting Thomas, fell into this category until he touched the resurrected Messiah. “How much more blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe?” Jesus challenged him. There is also an aspect of cultural conditioning. In parts of the world where spirituality is high, such as Africa and South America, people are not clouded by Western post-modern skepticism. If you’re a tribal African villager who’s seen a voodoo witchdoctor performing spells and summoning demons into the village, then you expect the Christian God to be even more powerful. New Zealand evangelists like Bill Subritzky, and others from the US and Europe, have traveled to Nigeria and seen incredible miracles performed. And the sheer size of the Christian faith in that part of Africa dwarfs anything New Zealand, Australia or even America could offer. Evangelical rallies in Nigeria are on record as attracting up to six million people. As the voices of millions of Christians call out to heaven, the videocameras recording the events capture lightning bolts shooting from the skies into the ground around the rallies. To the Africans, this is normal. This is what they expect from the God who created the Universe: action, power, supernatural signs and wonders. And on a continent where Christianity is locked in a power struggle with both miracle-less Islam and tribal shamanism,

Christianity’s rapid growth is directly linked to the healing miracles on display. In the West however, where great cathedrals lie almost empty or populated by New Age Anglicans who don’t believe in God, there are no lightning bolts or witchdoctors paralysed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Instead, it’s considered a miracle that people bother turning up to those churches at all. Much of the West’s thinking on miracles comes from an eighteenth century Scottish philosopher named David Hume, whose writings established what we now know as the religion of ‘secular humanism’. Hume’s basic argument was that the laws of nature suggested natural causes for everything. Miracles violated the laws of nature, yet human experience has shown natural laws are inviolable, ergo, miracles cannot occur. As some might have spotted, it is a circular argument because it begs the question: how do we know the laws of nature can never be violated? Just because humans can’t do it does not mean that a higher being is similarly restricted. In the 20th century, one of Hume’s leading supporters was British philosopher and prominent atheist Antony Flew. However, in 2004, Flew publicly renounced his atheism on scientific grounds: after a lifetime of arguing against the existence of either God or miracles, he was presented with the scientific evidence in favour of Intelligent Design and found it compelling. Atheism lost arguably its strongest voice – a bit like Darth Vader choosing the light. And that, many Christians would contend, was indeed a miracle.

Why is it so easy to prove there is a God and so impossible to prove there isn’t? Why do atheists behave as though there is a God? Why is it so easy to prove evolution is impossible? This is a unique new system for checking out God. Unique, because you judge it for yourself. New, because no one has used it before. This is not philosophy, or theory, this is practical science. You will be using the scientific method. Visit this website:

www.lifewhy.org

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 49

slave slave brides

“A revolution of movement and empowerment; fuelled by hope and bedeviled by risk”. What really happens to migrant brides seeking love beyond borders? MELODY TOWNS reports

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“M

en marry to make an end; women to make a beginning”, states a famous quote by Alex Depoy. By glancing briefly across all aspects of marriage then you can see that there are definitely elements of this statement that ring true. Most women spend years dreaming about their wedding day and their beautiful white dress, but beyond that most women also dream about finally obtaining the perfection of marriage in their own lives. Starting a journey of true romance, embarking on intimacy only married couples can share and investing not only in the dream of a wonderful family but the hope of creating ‘forever’ memories, does as Depoy states, begin with the idea of marriage for many women. And the search to begin this journey of love is a universal desire sought out by women (and men) across the globe. The fact that over two thirds of people migrating to Australia alone for marriage are women, may lead us to delve deeper into the statement of Depoy’s, that many married couples lightheartedly joke about, once the ‘honeymoon period’ seems to lose its flame. The search for love is a universal theme, but with the increase of globalization, looking for love is no longer limited to a country, a city or a small town mentality. Instead love can be found beyond cultural barriers, family expectations and community conditions. Today, 94.5 million, or nearly half (49.6%) of all international immigrants are women. And according to the Global Commission on International Migration, marriage has played a significant role in female migration. It has been described by the Commission as a “revolution of movement and empowerment; fuelled by hope and bedevilled by risk. Despite many successful international unions, the fact remains that by simply being female, women face “disproportionate obstacles and risks” when it comes to marriage and migration. Varying from discrimination to abuse and exploitation, the situation many migrant women find themselves in on their search for love can be detrimental.

Photography: Andrew Taylor, Vlad Lebedinski, Michael Grube. All photos feature models

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“We had only been married a short period of time and the abuse started to happen. He sort of used to threaten me that I should go back. I think he abused me more because he knows I can’t go anywhere”. Annie is a migrant wife, interviewed by reporter Judy Tierney on Australia’s 7.30 Report. She came to Australia from the Philippines on a tourist visa where she met the man that she was to marry. With little English and limited understanding of the Australian law, Annie found herself trapped in a violent 52, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

relationship with the threat of deportation from her husband if she told anyone about the abuse. “I can’t get any money. He used to sort of throw $10 to me. I said “I want money, obviously to live on” and he used to sort of throw it on the floor and told me to work on my back”. A submission to the Australian Government concerning this issue states, “Most women never see any money at all…It can be equated to the slave trade of the past. These women work for nothing, are abused emotionally and sexually and they see no

way out. Australia may as well import women and have men line up at the local airport to select the ones they want”. Annie is not the only case of spousal abuse, and Australia is not the only country that it occurs in. Sally* is also from the Philippines. She met her husband through a mutual friend and the couple found love across borders, married in her homeland and Sally set off, expectations high, to begin the married life that women universally dream of, in New Zealand. Within only eight months of being in the country, Sally soon realized that her dream of a happy marriage in a nation offering a better lifestyle was not in actuality going to be her reality. Instead, the man Sally loved as her husband became abusive both verbally and physically and soon after ended the relationship telling her that he was already looking for another woman. “He called me fat and ugly and said I would have to go back”, says Sally from her refuge north of Auckland. She was not only faced with the loss of her marriage, the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband, but also the fear of the unknown in a country that offers limited support to migrant spouses suffering domestic abuse and threatens to send them home if their sponsor ends their relationship within two years of being in the country.

any migrant wives arrive on temporary visas with no money and little grasp of the English language. But it’s when the marriage turns sour, that women can find themselves trapped in a violent and abusive relationship. With little understanding of the laws combined with limited English and lack of support, it’s here that basic human rights seem to be lost in translation and migrant wives start to disappear from our nation. In Australia, migrant women remain on a temporary visa for up to two years after the marriage takes place. During this time, their sponsor (husband or partner), is the sole provider as the woman is not entitled to any financial assistance. If abuse does occur women can seek Government support under the domestic violence provision however while all the legalities are being processed the women still are not entitled to any financial, housing or medical assistance, and before they know it two years have passed and deportation becomes a real threat. “The whole issue arises as to how many people you keep here, on benefits, testing the limit of entitlement when the best outcome , given the relationship is no longer there, is for them to go home”, says Phillip Ruddock, Australian Migration Minister. Similarly in New Zealand, migration laws offer little support to domestic violence victims who do not have permanent residency. In Sally’s circumstance no welfare was available to her after her husband ended the relationship. He absolved himself of any responsibility and dumped her in an incredibly distressed state, at a mental institution. Fortunately Sally has found refuge with some New Zealand citizens who say that if she had been made to return home she would not be allowed under her home country’s laws to divorce her husband and would be reliant on whoever would take her in. Fortunately for Sally it would be her mother or her brother. “I know of other women this has happened to who don’t have any family support. Some are reduced to living in dumps if the situation is very bad.” One woman states in a submission to the Australian

Government, “I trusted him wholly because I didn’t know the situation here. I trusted that we would get married here because he took me from the Philippines in a decent manner…weeks passed and I kept wondering because he wasn’t making a move to organize our wedding. By this time, I was already pregnant. It seemed he had forgotten everything. Once when I asked, his reply cut me like lightning, ‘I don’t know. I changed my mind. I don’t want to marry you anymore’. It was as if the skies caved in on me…I wanted to die… “Even if I wanted to go back to the Philippines, I couldn’t face my parents and I was jobless and everything…You know how conservative it is in our place. They wouldn’t understand; it’s like you’re the one at fault. You will be humiliated in your family’s and people’s eyes because they will think you’ve tainted the honour which is so valued there”. In a report to the Australian Government concerning violence against women and immigration, many submissions expressed concerns about immigration law and in particular violence and sponsorship. The report states that sponsorship in Australia has grown remarkably to over 17,000 people a year. And while many of these relationships are successful, concerns are raised as the number of submissions regarding men abusing their sponsors continues to increase. “I was still shy, easily frightened and a bit naïve when I arrived here. For example, when I ask him to teach me to use the washing machine, he would get angry with me. He would shout at me, ‘your stupid, you don’t know anything; what to do’. If only it was just words; he would complement this with violence. He struck me often on the head with his heavy hands…when it came to lovemaking he would force me to perform obscene acts he saw on video. He treated me like a plaything or animal…if I didn’t agree he would hit me…I lived those days with fear that he would kill me”. Unfortunately, violence against women continues to go hand in hand with immigration law and practice not only in New Zealand but also in Australia, America and around the globe. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois shares the same concerns of spousal abuse in America that are being investigated in New Zealand and Australia today. “Domestic violence affects families and communities throughout our country, but its impact on migrant communities is especially devastating. Many women who have migrated to America do not have control over their own immigration status – their spouse does. And when their spouse turns violent, immigrant women face a decision they should never have to make: they can leave their spouse and face deportation and separation from their children, or they can stay in an abusive relationship in order to protect their immigration status and risk losing their lives in the process”. Loss of life is nothing new to spousal abuse when it comes to immigration in Australia. In a study titled “Violence Against Filipino Women In Australia”, eighteen murdered Filipino women were studied including two Filipino women who were the mothers of children killed by their spouse or ex-spouse. The fact that in 12 cases, details were available showing where the non- Filipino males met their partners and married played huge significance in the focus on violence against Filipino women and the sponsorship of spouses and fiancés. Rowena Sokol was a 17 year-old Filipino teenager when INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 53

“He called me fat and ugly and said I would have to go back”, says Sally from her refuge north of Auckland. She was not only faced with the loss of her marriage, the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband, but also the fear of the unknown in a country that offers limited support to migrant spouses suffering domestic abuse” she died after being shot several times and receiving traumatic head injuries as a result of being beaten with a rifle butt by her husband, 41-year old Australian, Joseph Sokel. Sokel had met Rowena in the Philippines when she was 15 through the “Philippine Connection” agency. Bringing her home to Australia as his wife, it wasn’t long before Rowena fled in fear after significant issues of domestic abuse. Murdered on the driveway of a friend’s home where she was seeking refuge, Rowena was also the mother of Sokel’s child. Professor Julie Stubbs, University of Sydney states, “We started with a study of homicides, so we were looking at Filipino women who were trapped in violent relationships who, for many reasons, could not find advice, support or protection and in these cases, we ultimately found death for the women involved”. With Filipino women six times more likely to be killed than any other women in Australia, the issue of premeditated domestic violence and even murder by sponsors is something that can’t be ignored. Premeditated violence may be the prerequisite with many serial sponsors. Serial sponsors are those who have sponsored 54, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

migrant spouses on more than one occasion. They often have a history of violence but remain relatively unscathed by a legal system that thoroughly investigates the migrant but ignores the person she is moving here to be with. In the case of fiancé’s where they are required to marry within six months or face deportation, the Iredale Report noted that some men “have been heard to boast about having had a “housekeeper, cleaner, cook and sex partner for three months with the only cost being a one-way airfare”. So what can be done? Suggestions have been made to increase provisions to migrant wives who find themselves in a violent situation whether the breakdown occurred at any time during the marriage. Access to information has also been suggested to increase awareness of help available to women in these situations and sponsors are being urged to be screened more thoroughly and to reap some consequences from their decision to marry. A bond has been suggested as a deterrent, but for now, awareness seems to be everything for women lost in translation and at the mercy of husbands who treat them as slave brides. * All names have been changed for privacy purposes.

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WORLDBRIEF

FRRM RUSSIA, WITH BLRRD The United States has dropped to third behind Russia and France as the world’s top supplier of arms and munitions. Russian analyst VIKTOR LITOVKIN puts a Moscow spin on what this means in an increasingly unstable world

ast year Russia was ranked No. 1 in the world as an exporter of arms to developing countries, having concluded agreements on the supply of weapons and military equipment worth US$7.1 billion. These are the data supplied by the U.S. Congressional Research Service, which published the report Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1998-2005. According to this document, excerpts of which appeared in The New York Times, Moscow has leapfrogged ahead of even Washington, which stayed in third place with $6.2 billion in exports. Paris, according to the report, is second. The U.S. Congress estimates that it supplied $6.3 billion worth of arms. Also of note are some other figures cited by this sensational report. First, its data differs widely from the information released earlier this year by Russia’s Federal Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation, which estimates the value of Russian arms exports in 2005 at $6.13 billion. Considering that the total for last year was a record $5.9 billion (in previous years our exporters barely reached $5 billion), the $1 billion difference between the information from the Federal Commission and the Congressional Research Service requires an explanation. Washington was quick to provide one. In the information on Russian arms exports last year, it included several battalions of ground-based air defense equipment – the Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system sold to Iran. The report

56, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

Defenselink

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 57

does not say whether Moscow has delivered it or not. It merely some claim. The selfsame New York Times notes that in 2005 states that the deal is worth $700 million and that apart from the United States led in the total value of arms supply contracts the missile system, Russia also sold Iran eight aerial tankers with developed and developing countries. Washington’s overall able to refuel Iranian aircraft in mid-air. In the total sum of receipts totaled $12.8 billion. Although they slipped from their deliveries to Iran the Congress also included the upgrading 2004 levels (when weapons sales fetched $13.2 billion), Boeing, of Su-24 assault planes, T-72 tanks and MiG-29 fighters. In Lockheed Martin, General Electric and other multinational short, Moscow has become the arms-export champion not only majors did not lose out. Take as an example a planned contract thanks to China and India, but also Iran. to supply Turkey with fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets worth And this is the second thing which calls into question the reli$7 billion. In comparison, the achievements credited to Russia ability and accuracy of the analysis done by the Congressional by the U.S. Congress in 2005 look unimpressive. Research Service. The export of military equipment and arms Nor can it be forgotten that the U.S. supplies and even foists has always been a highly politicized area. Here is a recent examits weapons onto NATO countries, which are closed to Russian ple: as soon as President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela began criticombat equipment. This is true even of former Warsaw Pact cizing American imperialism, the U.S. Department of State at countries, where such equipment has been used for a long time. once clamped down an embargo on supplying Caracas with They cite diverse reasons for this: A lack of compatibility in spare parts for American F-16 fighter planes, grounding the basic parameters, calibers, communications and control sysVenezuelan air force. When Chavez turned to Russia to protems ... This explanation is beneath any criticism. Greece is vide him with Su-30s, the world’s best fighters and signed a a NATO member, but all its air defense systems were made contract to purchase them, the Department of State imposed in Russia, which in no way interferes with its command, consanctions on Russia’s Sukhoi aircraft company. trol or communications links. The simple truth is that not all Today, as Vadim Kozyulin, an analyst with Moscow’s PIR nations can withstand Washington’s pressure, its threatened Center, notes, the United sanctions, refused credits, States is trying to scare aid, and so on. the rest of the world: The “Greece is a NATO member, but all Or take Israel. Like Russians are selling their its air defense systems were made Moscow, it has been playing weapons indiscriminately, it in Russia, which in no way inter- up the advantages and mersays, fomenting ever-recur- feres with its command, control its of Russian-Israeli militaryring armed conflicts. This technical cooperation year in, is a rank untruth. Russia or communications links. The sim- year out. Many employees has always respected inter- ple truth is that not all nations of the Israeli defense indusnational agreements on the can withstand Washington’s pres- try are former employees of arms trade. And unlike cer- sure, its threatened sanctions, the Soviet one. We speak the tain NATO countries, which same language ... but no. The supply arms even to Georgia, refused credits, aid, and so on” United States is categorically a country threatening war against it. Washington grants on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Moscow strictly abides by the Israel $5 billion to $6 billion in annual credits exclusively for the requirement not to trade with countries involved in conflicts. purchase of American arms. And then it suddenly transpires that But political motives find expression not only in speculations the United States has markedly dropped behind Russia in the on export volumes, or in imposing sanctions and exerting heavy arms trade, a claim that draws ironic smiles from experts. pressure on governments that do not buy American arms or Kozyulin, the Russian defense expert, says: Russia should buy them at a price not suitable to American firms. The report thank the U.S. for hailing its success in the arms trade. But also reflects political infighting in the United States. While he remarks that the methods used to assess the financial prowemphasizing Russia’s greater arms supplies abroad, the report ess of a country on the world arms market are far from perfect. points to America’s sharp retreat from the lead role (by two One method is employed by the United Nations, another by slots, from first to third place). All this is happening ahead of the Stockholm SIPRI Institute, still another by the London Congressional elections; meanwhile, only the most complacent Institute of Strategic Studies, which puts out The Military in the Democratic camp are not criticizing the Republicans for Balance publications. Moreover, politicians, experts and jourall their real and imagined sins, starting with the setbacks in nalists in every country often exploit this contradictory inforIraq and Afghanistan and ending with the loss of traditional mation for their propaganda ends. This, of course, casts grave arms markets. doubt on the reliability of the figures cited. Compared with 2004, the report claims, the United States has The U.N. General Assembly has recently decided to set up a lost a considerable part of this market. In that year, the value of task force to draw up international laws and regulations for arms deals concluded by Washington to deliver arms to developing trading. Kozyulin believes that once they are passed, the figures nations reached $9.4 billion. Russia, on the other hand, posted will hopefully no longer be as misleading as they are today. only $5.4 billion. Now the latter is ahead by $1 billion. The conViktor Litovkin is a military commentator at RIA Novosti. United Press International’s clusion American voters are supposed to draw is obvious: Vote Outside View commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a Democratic. The Democrats will regain America’s leadership in variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of arms export, which means new jobs and more earnings ... United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submisMeanwhile, American arms exports are not faring as badly as sions are invited. 58, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

when news breaks

Metro, Nov 06: “Is it time for Investigate to investigate what ‘investigate’ means?”

investigate [in-ves-ti-gayt] v/t try to discover the truth about; examine systematically, enquire carefully into.

You read it here, first: Safety concerns over Meningococcal Vaccine 2004 Dioxin poisoning in New Plymouth 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 David Benson-Pope assaulting schoolgirls 2006 Disgraced Attorney-General David Parker files false documents 2006 John Tamihere’s ‘Insider’s Guide to Labour’ 2005 The real story on the Louise Nicholas case 2006 The inside story on the Tony Stanlake murder 2006 Chinese intelligence linked to Lyttelton Port purchase 2006 Al'Qaida’s Pacific Lair 2005 NZ’s bizarre constitutional arrangements 2000 Who killed Cityjet? 2000 Labour’s social engineering 2003 Bill Clinton’s meeting with a Chinese spy in Auckland 2000 Government bungling in the purchase of LAVIII armoured vehicles 2000 Travis Burns – serial murderer on police payroll 2000 Islamic terrorists in NZ (a year before 9/11) 2000 Safety problems at Air NZ 2000, 2001, 2003 9/11 Special Edition 2001 Captured – Investigate journalist caught in Afghanistan 2001 Evolution – a theory in crisis 2002 Immunisation 2003 Who Armed Iraq? 2003 Who’s really behind the international “Peace Movement” 2003 The real story on the ‘Goon Squad’ 2003 Gotcha! – National’s dodgy dealings with the BRT 2002 Media Bias – TV News you can trust? 2003 The looming 111 system collapse 2003 Safe Sex Myths 2005 The child divorcing her parents 2005 Russian bride scandal 2005 (to name just a few...)

A major story Metro has broken: An Unfortunate Experiment (1988)

INVESTIGATE leads. Others follow.

thinkLIFE money

Funny money

Financial commentator Peter Hensley takes a puff at a house of cards…

he subject title of the email announced WebSite inquiry. Not unusual, given that the website receives in excess of 100 hits every day, many regular clients seeking to read the latest newsletter which is updated every fortnight. Readers of the Sunday Star Times weekly Q n A column are also directed to the site to submit their questions for the opportunity to have a summary of their financial problem and an appropriate response published in a national newspaper. The email was from a disgruntled Auckland lawyer inquiring if I have altered my bearish (negative) stance on world share markets. The email was prompted by a headline news story stating that the Dow Jones index had recently posted a new high and had breached 12,000. George Santayana (1863 – 1952) said “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. The centuries old business cycle shows that share markets regularly go from under valuation to over valuation and back. In 1982 the price earnings ratio for the Dow Jones index was 8. The dividend yield for the same basket of shares was a little higher at 10%. Investors had suffered terribly for the pre-

60, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

vious 17 years and had learnt to distrust the vagrancies of the market. The companies were producing good profits, were returning handsome dividends however share prices had lagged for so long investors believed they would never go up. In layman’s terms the market was undervalued. The price earnings ratio was 8, and the long term average was 13. The dividend yield was approaching 10% and inflation was running at 8%. It was a great time to get into the market. Share prices had pretty much nowhere else to go but up. They did for the next 19 years. There were a few years along the way that caused a bit of heartache like 1987 and 1994. The market went from being severely undervalued to severely over valued. In the late 1990’s companies reduced their dividends so they could retain some profits within their corporations. They told investors that they needed the profits to invest back into the business and grow the company. Another reason they did this was a feeble attempt to justify the high shares prices. In 2001 the price earnings ratio for the Dow Jones index touched 40. Dividends had been cut back to be less than 2%.

Share prices had pretty much no where else to go but down. The authorities saw the problem and implemented the only strategy they could. They flooded the market with liquidity and dropped the price of money. In real terms they dropped the overnight cash rate to 1% and held it there for longer than any one thought possible. Professional investors recognized that the share market had limited upside potential and so they took their money off the table and left it to the average mum and dad who believed the equity fund manager who told them that the share market goes up over time. The professional investors saw that the liquidity flood would move from the over valued share assets to undervalued real estate assets. Baby boomers with dormant equity in their own homes took advantage of cheap money and started buying more houses. It took the baby boomers a while to catch on and they were beaten off the mark as usual by the professionals. That did not curb their enthusiasm however. They forced the average price of homes from three times the average wage to well over five times. When they couldn’t find a home to buy, they brought vacant blocks of land or placed down payments on yet to be built condominiums. With mortgage interest rates at their lowest for 45 years, they borrowed up large. The inevitable happened and prices topped out and in some areas (just like the share market) started to slide south. The professionals having sold out of both the share market and the real estate market, sat back and surveyed the market place once again. They recognised that a significant legacy of the real estate boom was mortgages. In order to prevent a severe correction to the share market, the authorities had significantly increased money supply which in turn eventually rolled into real estate. A noticeable offspring of the real estate boom was an exponential increase in the mortgage market. Financial institutions now found themselves with an over exposure to property by virtue of the large increases in both the number and value of mortgage loans they had made. They then repackaged the loans and sold them back to the public via institutional fund managers. In order to protect themselves institutions discovered they could buy a specialised insurance called a collateralized debt obligation or CDO. Now CDO’s are incredibly complex

contracts which do offer an insurance like protection for loan agreements. They are inherently good and fulfill a valid need in the economic landscape. The trouble is that CDO issuers soon discovered they could sell more than one CDO on the same loan agreement. They could collect multiple premiums for insuring the same contract. A great money spinner and as long as the underlying loan never went into default, no one would get hurt. The downside risk was that one loan default could be like the proverbial domino and take down a whole series of CDO contracts. The professional investors took to the credit derivative market with the same enthusiasm their forefathers had to the wild west. The market is now estimated to be trading over $10 billion a day and could be as large as $17 trillion dollars. To put this into perspective the USA’s total GDP is a shade over $13 trillion. The CDO market can only be estimated because it is totally unregulated. The greatest investor of our time and the second richest man in the US, Warren Buffet calls them financial weapons of mass destruction. In recapping, history shows that most

capital markets go from under valuation to over valuation and back again. The US authorities have prevented the share market from correcting by flooding the wider market with liquidity in the form of cheap money. The experiment worked and the economy did not go into the expected recession, rather the asset price momentum spilled over into real estate. This in turn created a credit boom in the form of mortgages which in turn has fueled the credit derivative market. This CDO market makes up a large section of the hedge fund universe and they have been repackaged sold to the unsuspecting punter as the new age way of investing. Globalisation now means that no one is safe. History suggests that credit expansion will be followed by a credit squeeze. A credit squeeze could possibly cause credit defaults. Credit defaults, could in turn create enough of a disturbance to make a single domino fall... So, to my email lawyer correspondent from Auckland questioning if I have changed my bearish stance on the US economy because the Dow Jones has breached 12,000. My response is: NUP.

“

The professional investors took to the credit derivative market with the same enthusiasm their forefathers had to the wild west. The market is now estimated to be trading over $10 billion a day and could be as large as $17 trillion dollars. To put this into perspective the USA’s total GDP is a shade over $13 trillion

”

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thinkLIFE education

A tertiary education is only as good as the tutor… Ian Wishart analyses apparent left wing bias at a major New Zealand university

t used to be a standing joke in media circles that those not bright enough to cut the mustard in the real world got jobs as university lecturers and tutors. Now, a letter from a second year Bachelor of Communication student has given new legs to the old stereotype. Megan’s* problem is that she was assigned to conduct a seminar on “Media, War & Terrorism” as part of her course just recently. “The hypothesis I chose was media bias against Israel when war and terrorism is involved…I knew this would be a touchy subject when I began researching, however I just couldn’t ignore all the evidence. “I knew my tutor was liberal and anticonservative, and basically anti-America. But there were just too many examples out there which proved this hypothesis.” As part of her thesis, Megan elaborated on the “Red Cross Ambulance Hoax” exposed in print in October’s issue of Investigate. For those who didn’t read it, the

62, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

article established that widespread world media reports that Israel had fired missiles on Lebanese ambulances were based on a hoax apparently conceived with the connivance of the International Red Cross office in Lebanon, which lent its name and vehicles to the hoax. An analysis of numerous photographs of the ambulances involved, and cross checking of witness stories, showed the vehicles had not been hit by missiles at all. The truth emerged too late – the alleged “attack” on the ambulances outraged the United Nations and was one of the factors involved in forcing Israel to call a ceasefire in its battles with the terror group Hizbollah. However, the point of Megan’s letter to Investigate about all this was that her lecturer had given her a “D” fail on the assignment, and only 18 marks out of 50. Ordinarily this might not be an issue, but Megan felt she’d been marked unfairly because of the lecturer’s liberal left wing bias, and she included a copy of her essay

with the lecturer’s margin notes on it. They make fascinating reading. Three lines into the essay, the lecturer critiques Megan for her grammar: “not complete sentence”. Nothing wrong with picking up that. Good on the lecturer. But the general tone of her marking soon crept in. When Megan quoted left wing journalist David Aaronavitch from Britain’s Independent newspaper saying that the media had turned against Israel and become biased in their coverage because it was not seen as “an underdog”, the lecturer wrote in the margin: “A lot of your ideas were uncited and thus unfounded…Often Israel is given a dominant, priveledged (sic) stance in world affairs by what is OMITED (sic, and emphasis hers) from the media coverage.” Two things pop up here. First and of the most immediate concern – for a woman who is a lecturer in Communications Studies at one of the country’s major universities, her inability to spell is seriously worrying. Particularly after she walloped Megan for poor sentence construction. The second issue is this: just moments after criticizing her for not properly referencing her sources, the lecturer makes a blatant political statement and offers no supporting evidence of her own to back it up. The lecturer, evidently outraged that one of her students was daring to suggest media coverage of Israeli affairs was biased, then added in the margin: “The media is often very damning of the ‘deviant Palestinian’.” Well, that was news to Investigate. Having put one of our own kiwi photojournalists on the frontlines of the Palestinian Intifada when it began in late 2000, where he was captured by Hamas and shot at by the Israelis, we’d say we had a fair knowledge of the issues. And as for the phrase ‘deviant Palestinian’, we Googled it: just one reference in the world using the phrase – a blogger three years ago commenting on the case of a Palestinian woman who used the offer of cybersex to lure a 16 year old Israeli boy to visit her on the West Bank, where he was murdered by the woman and her friends because he was a Jew. The blogger referred to the woman as “deviant’. Fair criticism, one would have thought. When Megan utilizes the “Red Cross Hoax” story from Investigate, her lecturer writes: “This is also an isolated case study.

“

The fact that Investigate is “conservative” is not really the issue. What really annoys liberals like this media lecturer is that we’re right, and they know it, and they hate it because it threatens their own prejudices

”

Remember, also, that Investigate is a conservative publication. Dig deeper…” Shoot the messenger, perhaps. The essay was on Media Bias, and having found an article that contained extensive source notes and photos it was ruled out of court because… “Investigate is a conservative publication”. Megan cited the case of the New York Times running a photo of an Israeli cop with a baton standing angrily over a young Palestinian bashed and bleeding from the head. The story was prominently printed on page 5 of the NYT. However, it was false. The victim was not Palestinian but actually an American Jewish student who’d been dragged from a taxi by a Palestinian mob and brutally beaten – the policeman was standing over him in his defence against the mob. Do you think the NYT bent over backwards to correct the original sting? Not in this lifetime. But in the margin, the lecturer wanted to give the NYT the benefit of the doubt, noting: “Is this not more to do with sensationalism than an anti-Israel agenda?” Yeah, that’ll be the reason they struggled to make a correction. Remind me, where are the sensational pictures of Palestinians carving up the bodies of Israeli soldiers? The lecturer picks up Megan repeatedly, and fairly, for not properly footnoting the exact source of various facts and opinions she quotes, but concludes: “Megan – unfortunately this essay did not have any foundation of academic literature. A lot of your ideas were uncited and thus unfounded. I encourage you to dig deeper into this are of media theory AND history. “Israel is often covered favourably through implicit means, eg, construction of the ‘Arab deviant’, omitting information in media coverage – eg their arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, alliances with US/Britain etc.” There’s that unsourced reference to “deviants” again. So again we Googled this latest manifestation of the phrase

and again came back with only one media article in the entire world that appears to have used it. We then tested the lecturer’s unsourced theory about the media failing to mention Israel’s weapons of mass destruction. There are 2.7 million pages of references to the subject “nuclear weapons” + “Israel”. On GoogleNews alone there were nearly 4,100 references during the month of October alone, when we checked. As for the unsourced claims about Israel’s alliances with the US and Britain, the lecturer pointedly fails to mention that the Arab states were being bankrolled in 1967 and 1973 by the Soviet Union which was shipping huge quantities of weaponry so the Arab states could launch attacks. If the US had not helped Israel, virtually every Jewish citizen would have been slaughtered by the invading armies – particularly as that was one of the stated objectives of the Palestinian resistance: to kill every remaining Jew. “I realize this essay is not my best work,” Megan wrote to Investigate, “and is probably not worthy of an A or even a B. But I do not believe it deserved an 18/50, especially with the comments the tutor left. I find it very hard to believe the essay was fairly marked, and now I have had a rude awakening to the real world. I find it ironic that the University says it teaches its students how to think for themselves, when every tutor I’ve ever had is blatantly liberal and is constantly trying to sway you in this direction. “When I did my seminar which used the Investigate magazine as my main source, with the ‘Red Cross Ambulance Hoax’, my tutor tried to change my mind and…even claimed to the class that the Investigate magazine was an extreme republican, conservative magazine. I believe she misunderstands the meaning of Republican here. I found that comment inappropriate and harsh, especially

to announce this to the class once I had just used it as a source in my seminar.” The fact that Investigate is “conservative” is not really the issue. What really annoys liberals like this media lecturer is that we’re right, and they know it, and they hate it because it threatens their own prejudices. It is true that Megan’s essay was not constructed well enough for an A or B pass. It is true that had she searched harder she would have found the fake Reuters photos of Israeli bombings in Israel, she would have highlighted the fake massacre at Jenin in 2002 that never happened despite widespread coverage, and she might have found that common threads in all of these incidents include the reliance by Western news media on ethnic Arab freelance journalists and photographers, freelancers whose first loyalty in some cases was to “the cause” rather than “the truth”. It is true that if Megan had analysed even just NZ media reports she would see Hamas and Hizbollah terrorists referred to in respectful term “militants”, implying some legitimate military purpose, even when 95% of their attacks were directed at civilians, making them “terrorists” in the true sense of that word. It is also true that if Megan dug “deeper” into history, as suggested by her lecturer, she would find that the current media spin about the whole Palestinian land divide was a crock – something like 80% of the original Palestine remains in the hands of Palestinian Arabs today – Israel occupies a tiny fraction of the original Palestine, yet this fact is almost never covered in daily media stories. And finally on this vein, it is true that had Megan done the above, she probably would have scored an ‘F’. However, by the same token, as a feepaying customer Megan should probably have been able to expect a more intellectual and objective approach to her essay and seminar than the one shown here. For the lecturer to expect only “academic” sources to be used when the topic was “media bias” is naïve and unrealistic in the extreme, for two reasons. Firstly, there’s been no time for “academic” analysis of the recent Hizbollah/Israel war (started by Hizbollah, for the record), and secondly, if the quality of “academic” analysis is as good as that shown by this particular university lecturer, then God help tertiary students everywhere. * The name has been changed for privacy purposes.

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 63

thinkLIFE science

Darwin’s worst nightmare

The book that put Intelligent Design on steroids ten years ago has been updated and re-released. Ian Wishart profiles Darwin’s Black Box

en years ago, a single idea dripped onto a page like the first raindrop breaking the lazy surface calm of a pond on one of those summer afternoons that ache of impending thunder. The idea – that life on Earth appeared to be designed, rather than the result of random chance – was not, of itself, new. But the way molecular biochemist Michael Behe framed his idea on this occasion was. “Now it’s the turn of the fundamental science of life, modern biochemistry, to disturb. The simplicity that was once expected to be the foundation of life has proven to be a phantom; instead, systems of horrendous, irreducible complexity inhabit the cell. The resulting realization that life was designed by an intelligence is a shock to us in the twentieth century who have gotten used to thinking of life as the result of simple natural laws.” The key phrase in his 1996 book, Darwin’s Black Box: “irreducible complexity”. It’s a phrase that essentially means, “Hey, this thing’s so intricately put together that if I take just one brick out the whole lot collapses and ceases to function”. An irreducibly complex biological system is one, like blood clotting, that doesn’t work if one of its many ingredients is missing but which is simultaneously so critical to the organism’s survival that it needed to be there from the very start – that the organism could not wait aeons for the system to “evolve”. Darwin presumed life began simple and became complex through the process of evolution, but science is discovering that even “simple” one celled organisms appear irreducibly complex. As Behe (pron. Bee-hee) pointed out in 1996, Darwin’s 1859 theory of evolution had been formulated at a time when science had not discovered genetics, split the atom, and didn’t know about DNA. Darwin essentially looked at different

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groups of animals, figured they shared certain similarities and hypothesized that they must be related somewhere back in their past. Darwin assumed – and many of his supporters still cling to the idea despite the growing evidence to the contrary – that future scientific discoveries would support the theory of evolution. Instead, in the past 20 years the foundation pillars of Darwinian evolution have begun to crumble as scientists broke open molecules and looked at the tiniest things that make up a single cell of life. “In the late 20th century,” wrote Behe, “we are in the flood tide of research on life, and the end is in sight. The last remaining black box was the cell, which was opened to reveal molecules – the bedrock of nature. Lower, we cannot go… Darwin’s black box stands open.” Instead of finding simple evidence that life had arisen naturally and evolved, molecular biologists have been staggered to find human body cells are packed full of tiny molecular machines, tiny robots, that work to build cell walls, provide energy and resource, transport materials in robot ‘vehicles’, like something out of a science fiction movie. Only it’s real. Because the machines themselves are not alive, and don’t breed, it appears highly unlikely that they just arose naturally. Nor, because they don’t breed, can they themselves have evolved through a process of natural selection. Yet these tiny machines are so critical to your life that without them you would quickly die. Is it possible, suggested Behe in 1996, that something as central to human existence as rapid blood clotting could have taken millions of years to evolve? If the tiny molecular machines and processes that leap into action when you cut yourself did not exist, organisms would have

died out long before they ever had the chance to breed. Like that raindrop that heralds the mother of all thunderstorms, Darwin’s Black Box was a harbinger of bad news for a science establishment in biology that had become fat and lazy basking in the faded glory of an idea about half a century past its use-by date. Science researchers had fallen into the trap of Flat Earthers before them: an arrogant presumption that the key issues had been “settled”, and that lucrative research deals should concentrate only on projects reflecting current establishment thinking. Anyone daring to deviate from the establishment position must, by definition, be a wingnut. The irony is, however, that Darwin’s theory of evolution is itself falling prey to the very philosophy it espouses, survival of the fittest: gluttonous and obese from feeding at the public trough for decades without actually discovering major new evidence in its favour, Darwinism no longer has the intellectual strength or physical muscle to fight off a newer and better idea: Intelligent Design. Forget last year’s court hearing in the US. ID didn’t lose the fight on the scientific evidence, but purely because the court believed anything that allowed a supernatural explanation in science broke the establishment definition of science as the search for natural explanations. What if the “natural” explanations were not actually true? Didn’t matter, said the court, picking up on a “science of the gaps” argument that just because a natural scientific answer doesn’t exist now doesn’t mean one won’t be found in 300 years. Until then, we should force children to be taught “nature did it” even if we can’t prove it, because the alternative – quelle horreur – is too appalling for secular society to contemplate.

So ten years on, has Intelligent Design stood the test of time? To answer that question, Michael Behe has just released an updated 10th anniversary edition of Darwin’s Black Box. After all, his critics have had a decade to amass their best evidence against ID and irreducible complexity. Have they succeeded? “Today,” Behe writes in the new edition, “with fresh denunciations issuing almost weekly from scientific societies and newspaper editorial boardrooms alike, it might seem a trifle premature to declare victory. Yet, although the cultural dynamic is still playing itself out, a decade [later] the scientific argument for design is stronger than ever. “For modern science, ten years is an aeon. As an analogy, think of how the Internet has developed. In the mid 1990s email was clumsy and the Web was a shadow of what it has become… “Progress in elucidating genomes has been matched by progress in understanding how the machinery of life works. Most proteins in the cell are now known to work as teams of half a dozen or more, rather than by themselves. “The mechanisms cells use to construct the cilia and flagella described in Chapter 4 were almost totally obscure when this book was first written. Today, they’re known to be stunningly sophisticated molecular systems themselves, like automated factories that make outboard motors. “In short, as science advances relentlessly, the molecular foundation of life is not getting any less complex than it seemed a decade ago; it is getting exponentially more complex. As it does, the case for the intelligent design of life becomes exponentially stronger. “Nonetheless, the hurly-burly of the public intellectual marketplace can make it difficult for a person to soberly judge the strength of a controversial idea. So over the next few pages I’ll address some confusions about the argument for intelligent design that have inevitably cropped up…” And so he does. But you’ll have to read the new edition to see how effectively Behe skewers his evolutionary critics. Darwin’s Black Box was a seminal book in 1996, remains cutting edge now, and based on current developments I’d be picking Intelligent Design theory to be dominant within 10 to 15 years as young, bright Ph.D students wake up and smell the coffee.

“

Forget last year’s court hearing in the US. ID didn’t lose the fight on the scientific evidence, but purely because the court believed anything that allowed a supernatural explanation in science broke the establishment definition of science as the search for natural explanations

”

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 65

thinkLIFE technology

Explorer – The next generation

James Coates discovers Internet Explorer 7 adds safety, usability fixes

few days ago, Microsoft Corp. finally declared that its new Web browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, passed all its beta tests and is now available for downloading by everybody. So let’s start with the address you’ll need to do that: www.microsoft.com/windows / ie/downloads/default.mspx The reason I think you should get rid of MSIE 6, or whatever you’re limping along with, is that love `em or hate `em, Microsoft’s software engineers delivered a truly grand set of improvements this time. Keep in mind that with the recent arrival of Windows Media Player version 10 and now the advent of MSIE 7, we’re all getting a pretty good look at the most visible parts of the long-awaited Vista operating system that Microsoft says will arrive early next year. The sweeping changes over the MSIE browser version 6 include both safety and usability fixes. The most obvious one is the greatly reduced size of the toolbar dis-

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play at the top of the page. The old icons have either shrunk or vanished. This one move makes the browser display fill more of each Web page and, combined with a number of new features for zooming and quick display of open pages, lets users get much more out of each page visited. Above all, the display is based on a change from ordinary screen fonts to alphabets based on the True Type used in modern Windows applications. The result is a delightfully crisp look to written material. And if a Web site uses tiny type, a quick click on an icon in the new toolbar lets you enlarge the page by percentages of 125, 150, 200 and 400. Gloriously, the zoom also works on graphics, letting you expand photographs to expose details that are flat-out missed otherwise. On the topic of zooming, you’ll also be happy to see a new printer feature that automatically reduces the size of a page so that it will print out in either portrait or

landscape orientation without stuff running off the page. This works by calling up a print preview page that will show how the printout will look at different sizes, while automatically justifying things to fit the chosen format. Lovers of recipes will rejoice, along with blog watchers and assorted fans of hard copies. As to look and feel, most visible are the new back and forward arrows that, instead of being on different sides of the bar, are now a pair of aqua blue pointers right next to each other. This alone will save heavy users miles of mouse movement over coming years. Gone are those fat icons for Files and Favorites and Bookmarks and History and such. They are replaced with a nicely intuitive row of text reading File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools and Help. Above those commands is the address line showing current location on the Web and a new Search Box designated with a magnifying glass icon. A tiny down arrow

lets users set the box to any of the big search engines including MSN Search, Google and Yahoo. Users can take their pick or use a command to find other providers. This takes you to a page where a great many search places can be added, such as Amazon, eBay, About, Ask, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and USA Today. Any one of the search services can be set as the default and the arrow will henceforth display links to any of the sites you add. Another section displays the crown jewel of the new Microsoft browser: Tabs that can be used to each hold a single Web page, thus letting a user instantly move from one to the other. You start with a Tab for your home page and then create a new one for your e-mail, another for a favorite news site, another for sports or whatever mix you want. Thereafter, each resource displays instantly with a click of the tab. And as Tabs build up, you can use the mouse to move them to the front or back of the line to keep your best stuff closest to

the left of the display. If you haven’t used Tabs, that may not sound like a big deal. But veteran Tabsters will know it rocks, as the young `uns say. Microsoft was scorned and berated for years for lacking Tabs as the feature was built in to competing browsers Mozilla Firefox and Opera. The boring part of this story may well be the best part of all because it includes a raft of security changes made under the hood that are not always visible but that help deflect things like the phishing bait and switch scams that direct users to phony Web sites that are copies of valid locations. At the programming level, MSIE now directly implements the hot new Web enhancements called Ajax, instead of using its own Active X as a bridge. It may be too late for the Windows wonks to win back defectors lost to Opera and Firefox, but let me tell them one and all that MSIE 7 is well worth a look-see. As for the rest of us, I can just say hallelujah.

“

The sweeping changes over the MSIE browser version 6 include both safety and usability fixes. The most obvious one is the greatly reduced size of the toolbar display at the top of the page. The old icons have either shrunk or vanished

”

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 67

feelLIFE

sport

Leah-Anne Thompson

Failed invasion – New Zealand sport’s dismal record in Australian competitions Sports editor Chris Forster wonders why the Kiwi teams suffer from a severe case of stage fright in the theatre of trans-Tasman combat

HE WARRIORS were the pioneers in 1995. After years of negotiations, millions of dollars in hard cash and lashings of public support, the Aucklandbased rugby league club launched itself into the gladiatorial world of the NRL. Their failings, then rise under the coaching of Daniel Anderson, and countless controversies have transfixed and frustrated fans for 11 years. Fast forward to 1999 when the FOOTBALL KINGZ made their ill-fated entrance into the NSL, Australian soccer’s showpiece. The country’s best ever player Wynton Rufer returned home from Germany to lead the initiative. They

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started promisingly but fizzled to a dismal last after five inglorious seasons. A cash injection from an English multimillionaire saved the franchise’s bacon and earned them a slot in the revamped A-League in 2005. Re-branded as the New Zealand Knights, they limped to a lonely last in their first year and have plunged to new depths in the current season. Then there’s the NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS, who bounced onto the scene in 2003 as an expansion club in the Australian National Basketball League. They were immediately inflicted with the Kiwi wobbles, finishing 9th out of 11 teams

in their inaugural season and dead last in their second. There are signs Queensland coach Andrej Lemanis has found the right recipe, although the Breakers still only won two of their opening 7 games. All three ventures are Auckland-based, and only the Warriors (on three occasions) have made the lucrative playoffs of their respective competitions. Crowds at Mt Smart Stadium, North Harbour Stadium and the North Shore Events Centre pale in comparison to the bumper turn-outs attracted by all three codes across the Tasman. The trio of hard luck stories is enough to make a grown man weep, and get a thinking man wondering what it takes

to compete with the ultra-competitive Australians, on their terms. The New Zealand KNIGHTS continued failure to foot it with our ambitious neighbours is the most alarming of the three under-achieving stories. As their original incarnation, the Football Kingz – they finished a traumatic five year history dead last, back in 2003. When competitions mastermind John O’Neill drafted up the flash new ALeague with 8 state-based teams, he raised the hackles of football fans in Australia by giving the Knights a precious slot. He was no doubt persuaded by the considerable backing of South African-born Londonbased entrepreneur Brian Katzen, who’s committed for another season as majority shareholder. He’s supported by Chairman Anthony Lee, who’s another millionaire and football fanatic, whose investment’s governed by his heart rather than sound business. Even the deep pockets of these two gents must be running on empty, with crowds dwindling below 2-thousand for the Knights games in the 25-thousand seat North Harbour edifice. They started promisingly this year with a win and a draw, then the goals dried up. In fact it took 607 minutes to break the

goal drought with a 4-2 defeat in Adelaide. A week later their season fizzled to a new low with a 4-nil drubbing at home by ALeague leaders, the Melbourne Victory. But there’s no shaking Lee’s commitment. He’s just appointed a Director of Football to take some of the heat off besieged coach Chris Nevin – “We want Chris to concentrate on the first team and forget about the other distractions”. But Lee denies the club’s continued poor performance is drawing comment from Australian football’s governing body the F.F.A. “Of course we are very concerned, but there are no breaches of our contract with the F.F.A and they have made no direct moves to question our performance”. John Adshead, the man who famously guided the All Whites all the way to the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain, is well qualified to comment on the Knights dramas. He coached the side to a lonely last in the inaugural competition with a solitary win and three draws from their 21 efforts. Adshead resigned at the end of the season, but still goes to all the home games and hopes the club finds a way out of their deep hole. “People just roll their eyes and say here we go again, but I have sympathy for (coach)

Chris Nevin. He’s got injuries, the wrong type of players and massive problems”. Adshead’s got his theories on why New Zealand teams continue to struggle. “The Australian teams are full of born and bred Aussies pulling together with Aussie arrogance, and the reduction to 7 teams gives them the best players. New Zealand’s stuck with a mish-mash of different nationalities trying hard to find a New Zealand identity”. That’s the nut of the problem. The Warriors seem to be getting the right mix of Australians and Kiwis under coach Ivan Cleary, and the Breakers are showing signs of turning the corner with their mix of New Zealand veterans, flashy American imports and hard-nosed Aussies. The Knights have tried and failed to keep their best New Zealand players, and their situation’s getting increasingly urgent. The club needs to recruit wisely, find some strikers and give Nevin and his bedraggled troops the chance of digging their way out of another trans-Tasman hole. With Canberra, Wollongong, the Gold Coast and Asian teams on the F.F.A’s waiting list – their future in the competition may depend on it. They must find a solution to avoid becoming the first victims in the big money world of Australian professional sport.

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 69

feelLIFE

health

“Why is Damien naughty?”

Claire Morrow intercedes on behalf of autistic children

e’s not naughty sweetheart, he has autism. He has trouble coping because he can’t understand why everyone in the world behaves the way they do. He has very big feelings, and he has a hard time communicating them. What would you do if you felt so sad or angry, but couldn’t tell anyone in words?” “Does Winston the boy in the other class have autism too? I think he does, but more. But he doesn’t have ‘dow-sind-won’ because Ollie has that and he’s kind of...happy.” Funnily enough, I thought finding a preschool that ran a special needs program was important for my (non-special needs) children. Social justice. Accepting and understanding difference. So forth. And I didn’t think about it much more after that. I went most of the first term without thinking about it until I heard a child in Kmart screaming hysterically. It was beyond a doubt the howling of an older child who had completely lost the plot, and I thought at first that a child might have lost a parent. But God bless her, there was mum, holding her childs hand saying “Sweetheart,

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it’s OK”, counselling the rather bored and embarrassed looking sibling and pretending not to notice the glaring adults. You could hear the thought “give him a jolly good smack”. There was something odd about the tantrum, though. My children scream at me. It’s directive. This little boy was completely internal, he was screaming at no-one, just screaming, as if he was trying to make the whole world except his mother’s hand holding his disappear. Overloaded is the word. Circuits fried. Being both well-intentioned and nosy, I went over to his mother, who I recognised from drop offs and said I was impressed by her calm. “He’s autistic – people don’t understand, but this happens sometimes because he’s autistic”. A wave of guilty regret passed through the suddenly-distracted onlookers. On the walk home I remembered my husband saying sometimes there was a boy from preschool at our bus stop but they don’t talk to him because he’s always naughty. I felt sick. But there’s little point my feeling sick or sad about it – it’s his mummy (who has

the patience of a saint) who has earned that right – and she is long past that stage, for the most part. It’s all about stages of grief, or tasks of grieving or whatever, I suppose. I find it impossible to imagine that the frustration ever goes away. It’s all so nebulous though – autism is strange, it is increasing in prevalence and no one is too sure what causes it or how to make it better. And wherever there is uncertainty, there are con artists, and the well intended, and one possible explanation after another. Vaccines cause autism, milk causes autism, fluoride causes autism. Or maybe not. If there is any chance that a lactose-free diet would help your child, would it be wrong not to try it? What if there was no chance. Might it still feel like doing something – dammit anything? I’m pretty sure it’s not vaccines. Please vaccinate your children. The rest of this article is purely reporting and speculation. Autism-Spectrum-Disorder is the catchall phrase that describes people with full blown autism, through to milder forms. There is no chance that this is a case of label-

ling normal childhood behavior – the autistic child is very clearly different to other children their age. Autism is marked by an inability or extreme difficulty engaging in the world, particularly socially. Contrary to popular opinion, autistic children have feelings – probably lots of them – but they may not understand other people. Our knowledge about autism is based mostly on observation – I am reminded that we know newborn babies dream, but have no idea what they dream. We can only infer the reality of living with autism from what little behavioral clues and theories we can glean. Might be wrong. Let’s assume that it’s not a case of bad parenting – this has been roundly disproven, repeatedly. It’s not vaccines. A recent Scientific American article speculates that children with autism have trouble forming an image of others – knowing that they exist and what they mean, and predicting their behavior. This is not much of a surprise. Their very limited study found that most children have a brain wave response when they clap their hands, and the same response when they watch someone else do it. Autistic children have the former, but not the latter. The authors postulate that the children may lack a “theory of other minds”. They also hypothesise that the mind of the autistic child is somehow mis-wired so that autistic children are generally overaroused by insignificant stimuli, and ignore or avoid significant stimuli – perhaps because it creates an intense mental storm, and they seek to avoid this. The authors speculate that this may be linked to epilepsy in some way. On a different track entirely, Greg Easterbrook speculated recently on slate.com that perhaps early television viewing by young children can trigger autism in susceptible children. Incredibly – he seems genuinely surprised by the coincidence – Cornell University just released a study suggesting that this may be so. The researchers went looking for this link, and the link they found is – if true – statistically significant. What they actually found is that in places where it is assumed that children watch a lot of TV (rainy places which are not Amish), there is more autism reported. Of course, it is possible that families who live in rainy places are more likely to be closely involved with their children, and more likely to take them to the doctor. It’s possible that they see fewer other children when it’s rainy, and therefore develop autism from lack of contact. It’s possible that children who are destined to develop autism... well enough already. You see the point. But there is something about the idea that watching a lot of two dimensional images flickering on a brightly lit screen a lot might scramble the brain. It seems intuitively obvious, in a way, although previous studies show that TV has some benefits for children. In fact, whilst autism rates have risen over the last 20 years in the US, so has the average IQ. Stay tuned. By which I mean I’ll keep you posted. And be kind.

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 71

feelLIFE

alt.health CARE IN THE SUN • Sunscreens with avobenzone, zinc oxide, or titanium dioxide protect from UVA, the rays that cause wrinkles. • Avoid direct sun exposure between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. • Wear protective clothing, hats and sunglasses.

Brand new wrinkle for sunscreens

PREVENTING SKIN CANCER • Use a sunscreen with at least 15 SPF every day. • Apply 1 ounce – two tablespoons – to all exposed areas 30 minutes before going outside. • Reapply every two hours or after swimming or sweating.

Joyce Tsai profiles the new flap about sunscreen lotions

ho knew that sun protection could be so mystifying? First we’re told that we should slather on sunscreen every time we go out. Then, we were told too much of it could deprive us of vitamin D – increasing our risk of certain kinds of cancer. And now, a new curveball: Sunscreens, if used but not applied often enough, can actually cause more damage than if not used at all. According to a new yearlong study, some of sunscreen’s UV filtering ingredients can be more dangerous once they are applied and absorbed deeper into the skin – and another application of sunscreen is not reapplied later. Scientists found that if three widely used FDA-approved UV filters are left to penetrate the skin’s outer layer, they can generate free radicals that have been shown to cause damage to the cell walls and DNA. Such damage potentially increases the risk of skin cancer. Reapplying sunscreen helps protect inner layers of skin. “If you went into your bathroom medicine cabinet, most likely the sunscreen you are using would contain at least one of these,” says chemist Kerry Hanson of the University of California, a co-author of the study with Chris Bardeen. The findings are in the latest issue of Free Radical Biology & Medicine. The study took a mixture of those three

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UV filters – octylmethoxycinnamate, benzophenone-3 and octocrylene – mixed in a simple oil-and-water-based cream, rather than testing sunscreens on the market. “What you buy at the pharmacy tends to be a more advanced cream,” she says. And more advanced formulations might have properties that don’t penetrate the skin as quickly. “The ideal sunscreen acts as a latex paint on the outermost layer of your skin and doesn’t penetrate to the inner layer of skin cells.” The skin’s inner layers are more vulnerable because they contain nuclei and DNA that could be harmed by free radicals created by the UV filters. But Hanson emphasizes that the study doesn’t mean that the rules of sun protection are shifting. Rather her findings simply reinforce advice from such experts as the Skin Cancer Foundation: Apply liberally and reapply often – every two hours or after swimming or exercising, she said. “The standard recommendation is the way to go,” she says. “Most people apply sunscreen at 10 a.m. when they go to the lake and beach and they forget to reapply it.” Sukumar Ethirajan, an oncologist at one US cancer centre, says the study is evidence that physicians not only need to continue to emphasize the importance of using sunscreen, but also that “we need to be more conscious that the protection needs to be

continuous and not just short-term.” That’s an important message for anyone who spends much time outdoors. Jan Marcason uses sunscreen when she visits the pool but might not apply any when she goes for a walk after work. She doubts that many people remember to keep reapplying. “I can’t imagine that they do, especially with the busy lives we lead.” The study did not test all the UVB filters on market, nor did it test UVA filters, Parsol 1789 or recently FDA-approved Mexoryl, which block the deeper-penetrating UVA rays, Hanson says, adding that more research is needed to create advanced formulations of sunscreen that stay on the skin’s surface. Hanson also recommends using sunscreens that contain vitamins E or C to reduce free radicals in the skin as added protection. She admits that all the research on skin protection can seem a little mind-boggling to the average consumer. But her study’s findings simply underscore the conventional wisdom, use sunscreen and reapply it regularly. And don’t let those reports about the deprivation of vitamin D scare you away from sunscreen, she says. “Walking to your car or getting the mail every day could be enough” exposure for vitamin D.

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tasteLIFE

TRAVEL

The back of beyond

Beach meets bush in Broome, Australia, writes Gary Warner

ravel as far as you can in Australia and you end up in Broome. Even Australians, no strangers to beautiful spots, from the Great Barrier Reef to Sydney Harbour, act as if the tiny coastal town in the far northwest of the continent is a kind of national Shangri-La. “It’s my favorite place in the whole country,” says Alan Garrans of Kalgoorlie, near Perth in Western Australia. “You just go and soak up the sun and forget about everything back home.”

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The laid-back lifestyle even has a name, “Broometime,” a casual go-with-the-flow attitude that eschews clock watching and deadlines. Shops tend to open a littler later and close a little earlier than the posted hours. “Back in Five Minutes” signs usually mean you’ll wait an hour or so. “Broome is a place where you can take a ‘time out’ from your life,” says resident Rohan Dixon. “There’s nothing much to do in the usual sense of the word. But that’s what I think people crave. Nothing to do.”

There would be little reason for the international traveler to come to Broome if it wasn’t home to one of the truly dazzling beaches on the planet. Cable Beach runs for 20km in a thick, white swathe smack up against the great jade expanse of the Indian Ocean. Cars and camels travel around the hardpacked sand of the beach, which gets its name from the fact that it was the terminus of the transoceanic telegraph cable that once linked Australia with Asia.

But despite the beasts and beach buggies, the stretch of sand is so huge that anyone can still find a private spot where the nearest human is miles away. To experience the beachfront bliss, timing is everything. Broome is in the tropical belt of northern Australia, just 18 degrees south of the equator. There are only two seasons: the Wet and the Dry. Venture to Broome in January and you’ll be swamped by torrential rains and booming shows of lightning and thunder. During the Wet, which runs from mid-October to mid-April, Broome can get up to half a metre of rain a month. Temperatures are often in the 30s, and there is stifling humidity. Go for a swim in the ocean during the Wet and you could die. The seas are frequently filled with box jellyfish whose stings can be fatal. The floating globs,

about the size of a human head, have killed more than 100 people in the past century. If the jellyfish don’t get you, the winds might. The Bureau of Meteorology has clocked winds at more than 240 km/h in Broome. Local museums still tell of a storm in 1887 that killed 160 people. The rains disappear by May, and the austral winter from May to September is still hot, but dry. Well, relatively dry. The rains stop, but Broome is still sticky and hot. Think Florida with kangaroos. But whole weeks go by in July and August without a cloud in the sky. A thin horizon line splits blue sky from blue-green sea. Sunsets are a straight drop of the big red ball of the sun into the sea. One of the most popular ways to explore Cable Beach is on the back of a camel. Three companies operate rides that last up to an hour. Be prepared – the starting point of the

tours is down at the “clothing optional” end of the beach, and you’ll likely get a view or two of the “full-body tan” preferred by some Australians and tourists. The undulating camel ride can be a bit hard on your personal down under, but it’s a great experience to write home about. Many Australians drive their cars down onto the beach, parking a few feet above the surf line and using their vehicles as a combination changing room and impromptu beer bar. Unless you’re with a veteran driver, it’s best not to take rental cars out onto the sand. The fine and towing charges levied by rental companies can be steep. For those seeking a different experience, noted Australian surf champion Josh Parmateer operates a surfing school that will teach you how to get up in the usually forgiving waves of Australia’s ver-

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 75

sion of Hawaii’s North Shore. There are also rentals of kayaks and catamarans for sailing in the usually calm waters. The town of 13,000 residents is unique in Australia for its mix of the Outback and the ocean, Australia and Asia. It’s “where the bush meets the sea,” as a local slogan goes, and you’ll hear the Outback twang of the Aussie dialect wherever you go. Dusty Toyota SUVs and Range Rovers with big metal “roo bars” on the front (to protect the grillwork from impact with large marsupials) roar up and down the streets. But there’s also an intriguing mix of Asian and South Pacific cultures that have flocked to Broome for more than a century. Aboriginal hunters, Chinese shop owners, Japanese pearl divers, Indonesian sailors, Malay merchants, Filipino laborers and Arab traders have all left their mark. In recent decades, the town has become more non-Asian and Australian, but the Japanese and Chinese graveyards in town are a reminder that Broome was once one of the most culturally diverse places on the continent. A bit of Broome’s Asian influence survives in Chinatown, along Carnarvon Street near Dampier Terrace, though the shops and cafes in the area are now almost all Australian. Only the pagoda-style architecture survives from the time when Chinese were segregated into this small area. A favorite bit of exploring is to go out to Gantheaume Point, about seven k’s out of town. On the beach at low tide is a dinosaur print that scientists believe is 120 million years old. Even when you can’t go on an archaeological expedition, the point is a beautiful spot where red sandstone rocks frame the green-blue of the sea. Just slather on some bug spray and sunblock before you go exploring. If your timing is right, you can also see the famous “stairway to the moon,” at Roebuck Bay, an optical effect that occurs when there’s a full moon at high tide. The light of the moon on the horizon as it rises ripples across the mudflats, giving the appearance of illuminated steps leading to the heavens. At the Mangrove Hotel, there’s often a musician playing a traditional aboriginal didgeridoo as the moon rises. On warm summer nights when the moon isn’t putting on a show, one of the best ways to kill some time is to head into town for a movie at Sun Pictures, which

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calls itself the last surviving open-air “picture garden” in Australia. Built by pearling tycoon Ted Hunter in 1916, the theater has its name spelled out in old light bulbs. The screen is set out in the open, with fabric beach chairs or a lawn for customers to sit on under the stars. If there’s a bit of rain – highly unlikely – you can duck under the tin roof until the sprinkles pass. Ceiling fans whirl the humid air. The “loos” are behind the screen. In a nod to cinema stars of the past, the men’s room is marked “Humphreys” while the women’s door says “Viviens.” Times have changed since the days when Sun Pictures showed its first talkie, “Monte Carlo,” in 1932. Though the films are still first-run features, the show is sometimes briefly interrupted by helicopters landing at Broome’s nearby airport. If you are feeling energetic and want to explore a bit of Broome’s cultural past, visit the Pearl Luggers, a museum dedicated to the town’s colorful pearl-industry

past. Former pearl diver Richard Baillieu, who goes by the nickname “Salty Dog,” gives a presentation he calls “The Sea. The Men. The Legend.” There are many shops in Broome at which pearls are for sale, and visitors with a special affinity for the white orbs might make a side trip to the Willie Creek Pearl Farm, about 45 minutes outside town. Or visit McAlpine House, now a bed and breakfast, which was owned by the British Lord Alistair McAlpine, who championed Broome as a tourist destination in the 1980s. McAlpine, a noted conservative politician, built the Cable Beach Club Resort that is the town’s most deluxe accommodation. Many locals called it “McAlpine’s Folly,” saying Australians wouldn’t come all the way to Broome to pay $200 or more a night. But the old boy seems to have gotten the last laugh, judging by the stressedout travelers eager to let Broome’s sun and surf wash away the tensions of their city life so far, far away.

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To enquire, contact Hugh Crawford on 0800 18 46 53, and press 4, or mobile 021 222 6613. Email sales@lakesresort.com To visit, 5 minutes from Pauanui off Hikuai Settlement Road, 100 Augusta Drive, Pauanui INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 77

IF YOU GO GETTING THERE: Air service to Broome has grown in recent years, but it’s still spotty. There are only two nonstop flights a week from Sydney to Broome. There’s more frequent service to and from Perth. Flights are also available to Ayers Rock, Alice Springs, Darwin and Melbourne. I used a Qantas Airlines Boomerang Pass to fly from Perth to Broome, then on to Ayers Rock. The Boomerang Pass is available to any overseas traveler, though discounts are higher for Qantas passengers. Virgin Blue, a new airline affiliated with Britain’s Virgin Atlantic Airways, has a nonstop from Sydney to Broome. But the airline has only one flight a week, on Saturdays. Check out www.virginblue.com. WHERE TO STAY: Broome has accommodations for every budget and

taste, from motels to campgrounds to youth hostels. There are two exceptional places to stay: Cable Beach Club Resort is the top spot to stay in Broome. The Asian-themed plantation-style hotel is about four miles out of town, near the famous beach. Choose from modern hotel rooms or airy bungalows. The top-end accommodations are in the pearling master suites, filled with Asian art and antiques. Cable Beach Road. Call 0061-8-9192-0400 or see www.cablebeachclub.com/. McAlpine House is a meticulously renovated 1910 pearling businessman’s plantation house surrounded by tropical gardens. 55 Herbert St. Call 0061-8-9192-3886 or see www.mcalpinehouse.com. GOOD EATS: In addition to the res-

taurants at the Cable Beach Club Resort, I liked the Zoo Cafe on Challenor Drive. Regional specialties in a garden setting. Dinner for two: about $45. ATTRACTIONS: Sun Pictures, Carnarvon Street. First-run and classic movies shown on a schedule that changes nightly. Pearl Luggers, 31 Dampier Terrace. Admission about $10. Trips to Willie Creek Pearl Farm and other area attractions can be arranged through the Broome Tourist Bureau, Bagot Street. CAMEL RIDES: Red Sun Camel Safaris offers hour-long sunset rides or a 40-minute morning ride. Call 00618-9193-7423 or see www.redsuncamels.com.au. MORE INFORMATION: www.broomevisitorcentre.com.au.

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INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 79

tasteLIFE

FOOD

What’s good for you

Eli Jameson sorts out the complex controversy over functional foods

few weeks ago rumours of a controversial new American policy threatened to shatter the otherwise fond alliance between the US and Australia. Some wit decided to put the word out that America had banned Vegemite, and that vigilant customs officers at the nation’s airports were turning their attentions away from unnaturally bloated Peruvians and Pakistanis with lead-lined suitcases to focus their attentions on Australian backpackers. What prompted the rumour was a quirk in American law that makes it technically illegal to add folate – anyone who has ever been pregnant, or lived with someone who was will know all about the stuff – to anything but bread. Thus, according to the rumour-mongers Vegemite was adjudged to be illegal, given that it contains folate (albeit naturally). And although there was no truth to the story it quickly gained credence thanks to a credulous report on the news.com.au website that wound up generating hundreds of comments from outraged Australians. Evan of Brisbane wrote, “It is about time that the government of Australia woke up and realised what a one-sided relationship

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we have with the US. They are neither our allies nor our friends!”. One theoretician calling himself Don Mor of Oz wrote, “Perhaps now that the US has banned liquids, T-shirts that contain Arabic characters, Vegemite amongst other things, perhaps they might be so kind to ban obnoxious American tourists from polluting the world...”. As one wag pointed out later in the forum, Australians tourists are often no great shakes either. The controversy turned out to be a . Whatever the wisdom of eating Vegemite, it is not banned in the United States, or anywhere else for that matter. But there is a controversy over adding folate to bread in Australia and New Zealand, where health advocates say that it is a low-cost and easy way to prevent birth defects. “Anything that increases the distribution of folate will raise the level in the general population” one academic who supports mandatory fortification told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We can’t afford to wait any longer. The evidence has been in for something like 15 years now … The data against [mandatory fortification] is either theoretical or less reliable.”

Others disagree. Nutritionist Rosemary Stanton, the folate expert Mark Lawrence from Deakin University, the Australian consumer advocate group Choice and its New Zealand counterpart, the Consumers’ Institute of New Zealand, all maintain the dangers of folic acid fortification outweigh the advantages. What’s more, pregnant women and those with folate absorption problems would still have to take a folate supplement to prevent spina bifida. The controversy over folate in bread is only one part of a growing debate over socalled “functional foods” – that is, foods that are ginned up or manipulated in some way to make them even better for you than God intended. This can happen any number of ways. Vitamin D has classically been added to milk and iodine is put in salt. One more recent example to hit the market would be Omega-3 eggs, which come from chickens who have been fed a special diet that makes their fruit, for lack of a better word, that much more healthy. Omega3 fatty acids, most commonly found in fatty fishes like salmon but also present in a range of other foods such as red meat,

“

A recent study found that resveratrol, found in red grape skins – and, more importantly, red wine – confers a host of benefits and was recently found to extend the lifespan of mice, enabling them to eat an unhealthy diet with few if any of the consequences

”

are great for one’s cholesterol levels (among other things) and help the egg industry counter their product’s (largely unfair) reputation as a heart-clogger. I’m of two minds about functional foods. Certainly I’m not one of those crunchy sorts who objects on the basis that someone is making a profit, though there are plenty of people who figure that if a big company is adding something to food, there must be an evil hidden agenda. But at the same time I’m not sure doping up ingredients with vitamins and minerals is as smart as eating a wide variety of foods. The lycopene in tomatoes is thought to help fight cancer; turmeric, even in tiny doses (see recipe) is believed to be a great insurance policy against Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. A recent study found that resveratrol, found in red grape skins – and, more importantly, red wine – confers a host of benefits and was recently found to extend the lifespan of mice, enabling them to eat an unhealthy diet with few if any of the consequences. And this and other life-enhancing antioxidants found in wine are most common, it is said, in red wines from cool climates, thus elevating Australian shiraz and South Island pinots to health foods, after a fashion. Perhaps the best cure for our current moral panic over obesity, then, is a simple as a nice glass of red.

Turmeric doesn’t come up much in Western cooking but in India and Asia they’re mad about it. One great way to get some into your diet is through a nice Thai curry, and there is no better source for authentic Thai recipes than David Thompson’s Thai Food. This is one of my most treasured cookbooks and I make the following curry – often in a double-batch, because it’s even better left over and it induces jealousy in co-workers when brought into work for lunch. Fish Curry with Cucumber You’ll need: For the paste 10-15 dried lon red chillies, deseeded, soaked and drained large pinch of salt 1 tablespoon chopped lemongrass 3 tablespoons chopped turmeric 1 tablespoon chopped red shallot 3 tablespoons chopped garlic 1 tablespoon white peppercorns 1 tablespoon gapi (shrimp paste), available at specialty markets

For the curry 3 tablespoons oil large pinch white sugar 4 tablespoons fish sauce 1 cup thick tamarind water 3-4 cucumbers, deseeded and sliced into elegant half moons 450gm barramundi, sea bass, or any other fleshy fish, cut into chunks 1. First, make the paste. Roast the gapi in a pan to bring out the flavours, then add all the ingredients to a blender and process until quite smooth. If it gets too thick add water – never oil – to thin it out. 2. Heat the oil and fry the paste over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, until it becomes fragrant and the colour deepens. Lower the heat and season with sugar, fish sauce and tamarind water. Add cucumber and fish and simmer until the fish is just cooked through. The goal is to achieve layers of flavour – it should sour, salty, hot and a little sweet. 3. Serve with generous quantities of glutinous rice.

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seeLIFE PAGES

Pages of history

Michael Morrissey goes in search of tatts and New Zealand’s answer to Stephen Hawking ANCIENT MARKS: The Sacred Origins of Tattoos and Body Marking By Chris Ranier Earth Aware, $ 99.99

hen I was a young man (oh so many decades ago), the bearers of tattoos were said to fall into three categories – (a) sailors (b) motorbike gang members (c) ex-jail birds. Women with tattoos were about as rare as moa sightings. That was, of course, a New Zealandcum-developed countries’ perspective. This magnificent book, rendered entirely in black and white, takes the world as its compass, and richly widens that earlier limited perception. I can’t help wondering what it would have been like in full colour because many up market tats use a full palette of hues but black and white makes for a level playing field. And it makes for that that serious arty look. The book has 109 plates some opening out into a generous three page spread.

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Many of the pages are un-numbered, a minor annoyance perhaps, though it encourages a manner of viewing which presumably may be intentional – that the “reader” visits the pages initially and primarily as a visual experience before turning to the back of the book for identification. Here it is revealed that the tattooed come from North America to Brazil; from Morocco, Mali and Ethiopia; from Tibet, the Philippines, Japan and Borneo to Australia and New Zealand – from 22 countries spread world-wide. The assembly of skin art collected here is stunning in its variation – they range from the personal flamboyance of the North Americans, to the full torso Garadu monkey tattoo from Thailand, to a complete body tattoo worn by a Xingu woman from Brazil and the mythological motifs adorning the Yakuza gang members from Japan, to tattooed albino twins from the Kuna Islands, Panama. The New Zealand/Aotearoa contribution consists of four plates – one of a Milford Sound man with a facial moko, two plates of a

Maori chief (rangatira?), from the North Island and a plate of two Auckland gang members. In keeping with the book’s format, none are identified by name. To my untrained eye, the next plate – of a man identified as the owner of the Black Wave studio in Los Angeles but filmed in Moorea, Tahiti – also has a resemblance to Maori tattoo motifs. Though billed as a book of tattoos and body marking, the book shifts its focus momentarily to include three women of the Padaung tribe from Burma with be-ringed necks. Particularly in North America – Los Angeles is given high focus – there is ample exposure of the modern style of tattoo. Like their ethnic predecessors these tattoos – particularly of gang members – also carry personalised history and rank significance and are not the result of mere whim. By its very title, Ancient Marks tends to exclude the newer more casual style of tattoo – which one suspects may often be more of a fashion accessory rather than one that relates to gang, tribe or specific cultural allegiance.

As the book also makes clear, the revival of the tattoo is often a revival of cultural expression – and Maori moko whether done by gang members or tribal chiefs – is very much a case in point. This book is a visual feast as well as a moving depiction of human culture in myriad forms. I found it pleasant to dip into in small amounts rather than gulp it down in one greedy bite. Hopefully, every respectable library will obtain a copy and maybe a few private homes with that vacant coffee table looking ready for improvement.

THE ROAD By Cormac McCarthy Picador, $35

suspect the post-apocalyptic novel was spawned of the nuclear age. (Though Genesis in the Bible contains an early example of an end-of-world scenario achieved without nuclear weapons.) The forerunner of the apocalyptic novel was the Robinson Crusoe kind of account where one person – usually a ship-wrecked sailor – had to rebuild a kit set civilisation from available materials – mostly scraps of the wrecked ship. This dual tradition revisited my mind as I slowly struggled and fought my way through The Road – arguably, the grimmest book of this genre to date. This is a tale of unrelenting misery, a life and death struggle without apparent hope. So this is not a book to gift to a depressed person

unless you calculate that giving someone something even more depressed than they are feeling can have a counter effect. The apocalypse here is the apparent complete collapse of the world from pollution, lack of resources etc though it is never made overly specific – no mention of individual countries or resource depletion. This is not a documentary-style novel but one of item by item decay, desolation and desperation. The ocean is grimly described thus: “Out on the tidal flats lay a tanker half careened. Beyond that the ocean, vast and cold and shifting heavily like a slowly heaving vat of slag and the gray squall of ash. ‘I ‘m sorry it’s not blue’, he said. ‘That’s okay’, said the boy.” This short extract gives a fair impression of McCarthy’s blunt neo-Hemingwayesque style complete to the frequent use of “and” and the short sparse dialogue. Plus what turns out to be an excessive repetition of the word okay – in some cases as many as eight “okays” on two pages. Perhaps it is the hope (which I found myself hoping for), or a way to withstand things that are overwhelmingly not okay, but after a while it grated. In defence, it is a part of the relationship between the besieged father and his son. And if there is one hope we can take away from this morbid tale, from this literally hope-less book, it is that human love can withstand anything – even the end of the world. The “Robinson Crusoe” type experience – finding a stash of tinned goods – doesn’t happen until half way through the book – and it is preceded (you have been warned a second time) by over 100 pages of nonstop misery and struggle. By this time, I was ready to open a packet of chocolate biscuits or switch on the television and watch advertisements for travel to sunny unpolluted places or perhaps discover that under some circumstances nothing tastes as good as tinned fruit. In the science fiction version of the more hopeful variety that I used to love, survivors of a destroyed world found others who like themselves are of the benign and morally wholesome variety and accordingly the two groups team up so we were left with an optimistic post-Noah feeling – the world will somehow revitalise itself. (For the contrary view, see that other morbidly murderous tale Lord of the Flies.) There is just a tad of that optimism in the last few pages of The Road – but somehow it doesn’t cheer you up. There

is also a dearth of romance – no beautiful young women waiting to be rescued etc nor – in today’s often mythic version – a plucky young woman who overcomes impossible odds and triumphs. Curiously enough, I would still give a guarded recommendation for this book – it is an honest sobering account of a polluted world and a moving portrayal of father-son love and loyalty. In exploring these sombre events and a heart-felt love, it becomes a book that can linger after you have closed its unrelenting pages. And the language is often hauntingly beautiful.

A PERFECT RED By Amy Butler Greenfield Black Swan, $27.99

hat kind of a world would it be without colour? Such a world, of course, does not exist except in the shadow-ridden pages of the black and white photograph (see Ancient Marks reviewed above). Greenfield (a good name for someone writing a history of rice), argues convincingly that the colour red has a special claim on our imagination, commerce and culture – a commanding grip on world mind. Having reminded us, lest we forget, that red is the colour of blood and fire, two manifestations of red which surely every human has encountered, she tells us that in language after language red precedes blue, yellow or green and is only rivaled by black or white in the evolution of language colour. A Perfect Red is not a world-wide history of red – that would be a tall though not impossible order – but a history of cochineal’s discovery in Mexico and what this meant for the old world, ie initially Spain then all of Europe and, eventually, the world. For those who don’t know, cochineal comes from a crushed Mexican bug, a bit like a ladybird which lives on the nopal cactus. The Mexicans knew this very well – they had been farming the insects for years. The arrogant science-bedazzled Europeans enjoyed several centuries of what now looks like foolish debate as to whether cochineal was animal or vegetable with the erroneous plant view often winning. Not even the newly discovered microscope clinched the insect option and surprisingly it took affidavits from respected persons to win the day. Temporarily. In hindsight, it all sounds a bit like the round earth v a flat earth so

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let us be thankful the more accurate view eventually won out. In my loose impression of Latin American history, it was always gorgeous gold and flashy silver that dominated trade. It was colorful news to read that cochineal was up there nudging silver as a profit maker. In sixteenth century technological terms, it was a runaway winner – though it took 70,000 insects to make a pound of dye, it produced up to thirty times as much dye per ounce as Armenian red and yielded two or three harvests a year – substantially more than its earlier rivals, oak-kermes, St John’s Blood and Armenian red. Were they not being put out of business, European dyers might have been pleased for dyeing was a tough and dangerous business: “Each day, dyers and their apprentices worked with fiery furnaces, boiling water, corrosive acids, poisonous salts and fuming vats. Accidents were common”. The secrets of dyeing were jealously guarded with those that leaked information threatened with being outlawed, exiled or even killed as possible deterrents. Once cochineal took on, it became the red dye of choice for three hundred years. Greenfield’s account is a marvellous blend of history, science and human folly which takes small sorties into other aspects of related history – the Aztecs, the political life of Charles V, the rivalry of England and Spain. So as well as being a history of cochineal, it is also a history of Renaissance Europe and a chronicle of the old world’s relation with the new world of the Americas. Eventually, the production of cochineal spread to Guatemala and Spain, Sardinia, Corsica and Italy, with Guatemala taking the lead by 1850. Enter William Perkins, determined English chemist. In one of the history of science’s many cases of kismet, Perkins accidentally discovered a fabulous new dye while trying to find a way to synthesize quinine. Though it was mauve that was discovered, purple became the new red. Within a short time, chemists produced fuchsine, a crimson dye christened solferino or magenta and thereafter the price of cochineal began to drop. Cochineal had a temporary commercial revival in 1990 and the price has since fluctuated wildly but clearly the crushed bug juice will never recover its former dominance. And in her wonderfully ser-

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endipitous way of writing, Greenfield slips in a quick concluding overview of black and blue. This is a bravura performance which will greatly interest those interested in specialist histories or indeed scientific and cultural history.

DAYS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD By Hywel Williams Quercus, $39.99

his may be a book to make professional historians cringe but I found it challenging, controversial and informative. The author has selected 50 days over the last 2500 years, each representing a momentous history-making event. Some obvious “block busters” are here – the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the First Crusade, The Death of Genghis Khan, Columbus, Magellan, Cook, Battle of Waterloo. There are two entries for World War One – the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the First Day of the Somme and three entries for World War Two – Operation Barbarossa (German invasion of Russia), the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and the bombing of Hiroshima. So far so good. I was pleased to note that I had heard of all but one – the Tokugawa Ietasu Win the Battle of Sekigahara. Two obvious responses occur – one is to think of events that should have been included but were omitted and secondly, events that Williams has, as it were, overrated on the world stage. With a little help from my friends I have composed a list of major omissions – Death of Buddha, Death of Alexander the Great, Death of Aristotle, Unification of China by Shih Huang Ti, Outbreak of the Black Plague, Invention of Movable Type Printing by Gutenberg, Galileo Turns his Telescope on the Solar System, Harnessing of Electricity, Splitting of the Atom by Rutherford, Death of Hitler, Stalin Annexes Eastern Europe, Mao Seizes Power in 1949, Invention of the Contraceptive Pill, Re-Emergence of China. I have included events like the Black Plague because though the book is named Days that Changed the World several events are included that are not dayspecific. E.g. The Rise of Bill Gates. If Williams can bend his own title proposition, so can I. If Christ and Muhammad are to be

listed – and how could they not be? – surely Buddha must also be included. If Hitler is included, surely must also Mao Zedong. Science is represented by the invention of the telephone, Einstein’s famous equation and (impliedly) via Gates, the Internet. The major omission here is electricity (plus the silicon chip) without which virtually nothing in our modern world would work and that includes, of course, the Internet. For another perspective consider geoarchaeologist and author Eberhard Zangger’s list from ancient times – domestication of animals and plants, permanent homes, the wheel, the sailing ship and among other institutional creations – taxes! Understandably, perhaps, the book has a Euro-American bias – we have just lived through what is commonly called the American century and Williams is also an American. In my view, the Foundation of Jamestown,Virginia and the “I had a Dream” speech of Martin Luther King are not as important on the world stage as the events I have listed above. The ancient world i.e. pre 1000 AD is thinly represented by just eight events. Africa is not included apart from the release of Nelson Mandela, again (in my opinion) not an event that qualifies as world significant yjpuhj . My own Euro-centric knowledge of history doesn’t throw up any African landmark and somehow that doesn’t feel appropriate. Now for some affirmation – the chapters are clear, informative, succinct and accurate. Having read this book, I know a lot more about history than formerly and for that reason, despite what I regard as key omissions, I would still recommend it as a provocative overall view of the last 2000 plus years.

BRIGHT STAR: Beatrice Hill Tinsley Astronomer By Christine Cole Catley Cape Catley Ltd, $49.99

his is a fine and moving biography of one of our most distinguished scientists. I was surprised (slightly) to find that a number of my authorial colleagues had not even heard of Tinsley but then a few years ago who had heard of William Pickering (rocket scientist) or Len Lye (sculptor, artist and film maker)? This world class trio are outstanding among

the rank of prominent New Zealanders Who Succeed Abroad but Are Almost Forgotten. A common ground was their going to the United States rather than England. Whereas we nowadays keep a keen eye on New Zealanders making it in Hollywood, in the past it would appear that out of sight was out of mind. This biography then fills an important cultural scientific and biographical omission. Who then was Beatrice Tinsley? Born in Christchurch, she was an extremely bright student who at age nineteen decided she wanted to be a cosmologist having already aspired to be an astrophysicist from age 14. A bit like wanting to be an astronaut on the plains of Canterbury. Obviously, she had to leave New Zealand to pursue her ambition. She did her PhD at Austin, Texas in 1966 and from then on her career glowed brightly. Her dissertation entitled, “Evolution of Galaxies and the Significance for Cosmology” clearly pointed in the direction she was headed. Brilliant hardly says it – she was a genius. Her marks were 99 and 100 per cent at a time when no other student had scored more than 80 per cent. She completed her thesis in just two years

This

or about a third of the usual time. Apart from astronomy in which she excelled to world class level, she was also gifted in languages, writing (she wrote more than passable poetry) and music – she was good enough to play violin for the National Youth Orchestra. Tinsley, then, was something of a Renaissance figure. In appearance, Tinsley was almost elflike. Catley describes her thus – “very pale skin, red cheeks, black hair and large sparkling eyes”. This doll-like appearance was deceptive – though possibly it contributed to some male colleagues not taking her seriously enough, not evaluating her at her true worth. Her attempted bétè noire – though he failed to quash her eventual world recognition – was Allan Sandage who was apparently affronted that one so young – and a woman – should challenge his view that the universe was closed and one day contract instead of according to Tinsley, open i.e. would expand indefinitely. Catley is at some pains to emphasise that Tinsley was one of those rare spirits so passionately dedicated to the truth that her challenges were in the name of science and not ego or gender.

Tinsley’s mind worked at an unusual speed as instanced by her rapid talking and her staggering ability to write a scientific paper in a single night. She published over 100 in her short life. In her chosen field she is remembered for her work on galactic evolution, stellar populations and the interaction of colliding galaxies. She was a great synthesiser who brought together previously separated areas of astronomical knowledge and an inspiring teacher. She and her husband Brian were dedicated to Zero Population Growth and adopted two children. Tragically, just as she was appointed a full professor of astronomy at Yale University she was found to be suffering from cancer and died at the early age of just 40. Subsequently, a major prize in astronomy was named after her. In the opinion of Harlan Smith of the University of Texas, had Beatrice lived another 20 or 15 years, she would have become the world’s foremost astronomer. This was a rich life well-lived and movingly chronicled in Catley’s excellent and well-researched biography. Undoubtedly, it should prove a strong candidate for the best non fiction book published in 2006.

Christmas... say it with

candles from Wax Works

Dozens of designs handcrafted in New Zealand to choose from, with a variety of scents and colours to suit your mood Stockists nationwide, see www.waxworks.co.nz for details INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 85

seeLIFE MUSIC Dirty Dozen Brass Band What’s Going On

W Olympian achievements Chris Philpott finds meaning in the music John Psathas View From Olympus

o call John Psathas an innovator would almost be an understatement describing a man who has made his name by combining classical and jazz influences and styles, drawing on saxophone and percussion to create something wholly unique and garner an international following, including stints in Italy and Holland. An amazing achievement for a guy from Taumaranui! View From Olympus is Psathas’ latest work, released by Rattle Records, and featuring performances by Michael Houstoun, Pedro Carneiro and Joshua Redman, along with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. To be quite honest with you, I was floored. I am, by no means, a classical music aficionado or a jazz enthusiast, however listening to View From Olympus was a totally immersive experience and completely unexpected, given that I was expecting something more along the lines of traditional classical music. With its swirling arrangements, flurries of notes and fast, tight movements, Olympus is the musical equivalent to travelling in a V8 supercar with Greg Murphy for a few laps around Pukekohe; an adrenaline filled ride through classical and jazz music, and exciting from its genre-defying start to its out-of-breath ending. This is an attention demanding album, and definitely not recommended for the casual listener.

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hile the outpouring of emotion following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina has been welldocumented (and need not be reproduced here), perhaps the most heart warming story has been that of a musical community who came together, both to assist each other in getting back on their feet, and to bring attention to the tragedy that occurred in New Orleans, a modern musical Mecca. On the back of that comes the Dirty Dozen Brass Band’s latest release, What’s Going On. Almost a reimagining of the early 70s classic by Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On drags Gaye’s original material into the 21st century, and places in context of what has happened in New Orleans in the last 12 months. This release does have its good points – namely, some remarkable arrangements, as well as some of the most stunning horn work you’ll hear. What’s Going On is a classic album, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band have done it justice. My only real problem with this album is that I don’t necessarily agree with some of the implied meaning behind the tracks, and that definitely affected my enjoyment of the album. Despite this, What’s Going On is an enjoyable listen, and highly recommended.

Amusement Parks on Fire Out of the Angeles

relatively new act, since starting life as the solo project of lead singer Michael Feerick in 2004, Amusement Parks on Fire is now a full 5-piece band, and has established themselves as one of the acts to keep an eye on in the current post-rock movement – particularly since the release of their second album, Out of the Angeles. If I were describing the sound of Amusement Parks on Fire, I would say it’s almost equal parts Nine Inch Nails and Sigur Ros, combining the percussion and rock sounds of the former with the atmospherics and haunting vocals of the latter. The tracks on Out of the Angeles are epics in the mould of those 2 bands (some tracks drag on to 6+ minutes), however

the overall quality of this album doesn’t quite reach the same heights as work by either of them. That said, Out of the Angeles is highly inventive at times, and some of the songs here – including opener “Out of the Angeles”, second track “A Star is Born”, and “Await Lightning” – show just what these guys are capable of. While this isn’t a perfect record, it is a step in the right direction, and well worth checking out.

seeLIFE MOVIES

A mixed bag

The Departed captivates, Santa Clause III fails to deliver The Departed Rated: R for strong brutal violence, pervasive language, some strong sexual content and drug material Starring: Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg Directed by: Martin Scorsese 152 minutes

rainy video footage of a 1970s Boston race riot opens The Departed, and that is really the only black-andwhite conflict in the story. Everything else in Martin Scorsese’s wildly entertaining espionage story happens in the gray areas that exist between loyalty and self-preservation, truth and deception. In this story of spies planted by the Irish mafia and the State Police in each other’s operations, no one can be certain who’s trustworthy and who’s a traitor in disguise. Even the cops are trying to do the right thing in a time and place where right and wrong are negotiable concepts. It’s a great premise for this spellbinder, and a twisted reflection of America’s post-9/11 paranoia. It’s not a mere crime thriller, even though it’s dense with violence and suspense. The story is set in present-day Boston, amid an Irish family culture that hasn’t

evolved much since the warlike clans of Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. The city is divided into two feudal camps eager to expand their territory. The sociopathic Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) rules the crime world with an iron – and very bloody – fist. He has infiltrated the police force by sending his surrogate son, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), through the academy. Capt. Queenan (Martin Sheen) is honorable man whose position requires him to navigate moral waters murkier than the Charles River. He has placed recently graduated William Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) in Costello’s organization, absolving him for whatever crimes he may need to commit to maintain his cover. As their plans collide, each party struggles to remain hidden and salvage what he can, yet none of the players will escape unscathed. An early cop school lecture on the physics of a hollow point 9mm slug entering a skull isn’t just incidental detail, it’s foreshadowing. Scorsese has made numerous Mafia stories in his career, continually surprising us with how original each movie is. The Departed is a knotty and complex story like Casino and Goodfellas, but it’s remarkably energetic and fresh, densely peopled with vivid multidimensional characters. There are no forgettable, walk-on roles

in Scorsese’s film, and the inspired cast makes even minor henchmen into colorful and distinctive individuals. Nicholson dominates as Frank, spitting lines like acid or caressing them with a honeyed purr. And what endlessly quotable lines William Monaghan’s script gives him, eruptions of macho malevolence so sulphrous they seem like the exhalations of a pagan god. Damon and DiCaprio are in career-best form as the rival moles. Damon undermines his all-American charm as the smooth, wide-smiling office backstabber, while DiCaprio’s compromised cop is cold and bottled up. You can feel the strain each has in keeping his mask in place. As the police psychologist who sees both of them, Vera Farmiga creates a fully formed character, a shrink who is nakedly vulnerable to her clients’ mind games. The Departed demands a big investment of attention. It’s an intricate story, episodic at the outset. But if the story suffers at the outset from a slight lack of focus, hang in there, because you will soon become immersed in a mesmerizing, expertly plotted cat-and-mouse game. Scorsese’s vision, original, haunting and straight from the heart, places him atop that pinnacle of stylists who enrich the modern crime movie. Reviewed by Colin Covert

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The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause Rated: G Starring: Tim Allen, Martin Short, Ann-Margret Directed by: Michael Lembeck 90 minutes

im Allen has been Disney’s “go-to” guy for almost two decades, delivering a long-running hit television show and a hit movie series or three. So how does Disney reward its cash cow? It leaves Allen with a lump of coal for The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, the third and almost certainly last of the Clause films. This premature gulp of holiday jeer has big-screen production values but nary a laugh. A dozen years into the franchise and Santa (real name, Scott) has a trophy wife, a baby on the way and annoying new in-laws to contend with. And he’s still the same workaholic who wrecked his first marriage.

Oh, and Jack Frost is nipping at his, uh, nose. Jack (Martin Short, faaaaaaabulous makeup, not so fab jokes) wants Santa’s job. He dreams of turning the North Pole into a theme park, and himself into a lounge act: Liza Minnelli, circa 1974. The elves are still played by children in need of acting school. Ann-Margret and Alan Arkin are the guilt-trip parents of the bride who don’t know the son-inlaw’s job. They and the annoying family of Jack’s ex-wife (Judge Reinhold as a wimpy therapist) come to the Pole for the holidays. The other “legendary figures” (Peter Boyle as Father Time, Kevin Pollak as Cupid, etc.) try to help Santa keep Jack in line. And then it’s Back to the Future as we revisit the events that put Scott into the fat suit way back in 1994. He sees, briefly, how the world would be without him as Santa. Hard to believe the guys who wrote There’s Something About Mary have sunk to this.

“

So how does Disney reward its cash cow? It leaves Allen with a lump of coal for The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, the third and almost certainly last of the Clause films

”

The movie’s as icy as Jack’s hair, as lifeless as its animatronic, flatulent reindeer. Even the outtakes are lame. Stay for the one where Allen chastises a co-star who can’t keep a straight face. “Does my acting amuse you?” No, pal. Not in the fat suit, anyway. Reviewed by Roger Moore INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 89

seeLIFE DVDs

Holding out for a hero

Roger Moore wants to know: where’s Superman when your ship flips? Superman Returns M, 154 minutes

uperman Returns is an emotional experience for anyone with fond memories of the Christopher Reeve Superman. Returns is a movie that tugs at our hearts by recycling the characters, the basic story, the settings, the soundtrack and Marlon Brando from the earlier films. The laughs in this comic-book epic are few and far between. The “gee whiz” factor that Reeve was so good at selling, the new Clark Kent (TV vet Brandon Routh) can’t touch. And what is this guy fighting for? “Truth, justice, all that stuff,” Perry White, the newspaper editor (Frank Langella) bellows. No “American way?” But it will get to you, if you can be gotten to. Because it has Kate Bosworth, in a star-making performance, turning Lois Lane from the plucky, pushy accident-waiting-to-happen she once was into something sadder, sweeter and smarter. Bryan Singer of Usual Suspects/X-Men fame and his screenwriters try to sort through the messy Superman family history to concoct a tale that acknowledges the previous Reeve movies, and taps into some of the romance of TV’s Lois & Clark and Smallville. Superman Returns is remake, homage and sequel all rolled into one. The most over-licensed character in the history of comics is back from a five-year absence. Lois has a kid. She lives with a guy. She’s won a Pulitzer for writing “Why the world doesn’t need Superman.” “I moved on,” she tells him, when they finally have a

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moment alone. “So did the rest of us. The world doesn’t need a saviour.” She, of course, is wrong. That’s exactly what a world in chaos needs. The Reeve Superman of the late ‘70s seemed to signal a disillusioned nation’s search for a simpler, uncomplicated sense of our own virtue. Ronald Reagan wasn’t far behind. The more recent TV Superman incarnations are more uncertain of themselves, their powers or their responsibilities. Singer has made Routh our most messianic Superman, a figure posed on a cross of kryptonite prepared to die for our sins, awakening the better angels of our nature. He flirts with making this “The Passion of the Kryptonian,” when just flirting would have been enough. Reviewed by Roger Moore

Poseidon M – contains violence, 98 minutes

oseidon, the latest sea-borne model of German efficiency from Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, The Perfect Storm), is a state-of-the-art remake of the 1972 disaster “classic” – well, it was the best of the many disaster pics of that disasterpic era. The new Poseidon is set aboard a huge cruise ship of that name that rolls over New Year’s Eve right after Captain Andre Braugher makes a toast to “smooth sailing” in the New Year. A rogue wave hits them. The gambler (Josh Lucas) instantly looks for a way out of the upside down ballroom. The architect (Richard Dreyfuss) figures “they don’t build these things to

float upside down,” and joins him. The dependent single mom (Jacinda Barrett) finds her little boy and follows. And Mr. VIP (Kurt Russell) comes too, because he’s lost his daughter on the disco deck. All told, 10 souls set out to climb up to the bottom of the flipped-over ship. The original Poseidon spoke of a doomed passenger-liner industry that was cutting corners on safety. No such suggestion here. Just random terror unleashed on the (mostly) undeserving. The hero in that first film was a man of the cloth who has lost faith. But when he makes a decision, his humanity demands that he try to save as many as he can. Here, the gambler, the de facto leader, has no such thoughts. “That’ll change,” we think. The roar of the fast-rising water, underwater swims (with underwater swearing) that are so long they would make David Blaine blush – flash-fires, sparks from electrical systems that are too slow to fail, all drown out dialogue that might let the characters grow on us, develop some arc. But there’s no time. Petersen hurls us into the abyss and makes it all about these largely anonymous people faced with awful, awful choices. Gripping, yes. So what if it’s not United 93? It’s about the spectacularly perilous journey, not the people making it, not some message about an under-regulated industry and accidents waiting to happen. That makes Poseidon as pulse-pounding and nerve-wracking as you’d want a summer spectacle to be. But if you want more out of your disasters than that, well, there’s always Snakes on a Plane. Reviewed by Roger Moore

Welcome to the 21st century, now showing at Bedpost.

Pivotech slat system

Remote controlled TV conceal and reveal

Nexus Star features a range of suite options

Introducing the Nexus Star by East West Designs, cutting edge bedroom furniture that’s as beautiful as it is contemporary. The Nexus Star features truly unique technology and innovative features that place it firmly in a class of its own. Blending craftsmanship & technology Beautifully crafted from New Zealand Rimu, the Nexus Star incorporates features that demonstrate intelligent design with unmatched aesthetics.

Side tables stow inside the bedhead

The foot of the bed incorporates an LCD TV which is concealed until needed and is revealed by a touch of a button on the supplied remote. The bed foot end opens and the TV is electronically raised or lowered as required. Innovative design and construction Another example of East West’s innovation is in the side tables, which can be smoothly stowed away inside the bed-head with just a gentle touch. And the innovation continues with a recess across the width of the headboard designed to accommodate books and DVDs, with built in ports for cabling. Each side of the TV there’s space to store additional items for an uncluttered look that no other bed can promise. And the Nexus Star can be matched to a range of suite options. Proven comfort from Pivotech support Using the latest Pivotech flexible slat system, the bed can be divided into individual sleep zones to virtually eliminate roll-together. The future of beds and bedroom furniture has arrived.

Exclusive to

See the EastWest Designs Nexus Star at Bedpost. Call 0800 BEDPOST for the location of your nearest store or visit www.bedpost.co.nz INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 91

touchLIFE

TOYBOX

DENON DVD-3930

The company’s latest entrant to the Universal player market, the DVD-3930 features the most advanced HD resolution 1080i to 1080p conversion technology. As a Universal player, the DVD3930 supports all current surround sound and music formats including DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, SACD, MP3, WMA, DIVX and of course plays regular CDs and their variants. The Silicon Optix Realta chip is specifically designed to deliver optimum picture quality for content shown by major TV networks and Hollywood DVDs. Added versatile features include a total of 12 picture quality adjustments, including contrast, sharpness, white level, chroma level, noise reduction setting and gamma. For the best of audio the DVD-3930 offers 24-bit 192kHz audio D/A converters on all channels. In addition, Denon’s proprietary AL24 processing supports multi-channel linear PCM and CD sources, improving detail and delicate nuances in the music. RRP $2,499. For more information visit www.audioproducts.conm.au or contact John Murt on 07 5471 1062 or email johnmurt@highprofile.com.au.

Gotta haves

Bigger than your average stocking-filler SUBARU TRIBECA SUV

Subaru NZ has finally laid its mitts on the Tribeca SUV, which has been available in the US since early 2005. retailing at a touch under NZ$70,000, the key point is that it’s the first seven-seater in Subaru’s range and thus a serious contender at the large SUV/peoplemover market. The Japanese head office called it a B9, based on the code for a concept car released at the Tokyo Auto Show in 03, but Subaru’s US marketing bosses adopted Tribeca, which is an acronym for a tony piece of Manhattan, New York, the TRiangle BElow CAnal Street, where Robert De Niro has his digs. Powered by a 3.0l Boxer engine the car develops a decent 250bhp through a five speed automatic, and comes with all the mod-cons you’d expect including onboard DVD. www.subaru.co.nz

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Epson Stylus C79 and Stylus C59

The Epson Stylus C59 has low cost individual ink cartridges from as little as $9.99 including GST. Only replace what you need, when you need it, one colour at a time. The Epson Stylus C79 features Epson DURABrite Ultra ink which is smudge, water and fade resistant. With individual ink cartridges, the Epson Stylus C79 gives excellent value for money. The Epson Stylus C79 and Stylus C59 use Epson Intellidge cartridge technology which allows users to easily view ink levels, and works with the printer to ensure high print quality and trouble free printing. The Epson Stylus C79 and Stylus C59 will enable you to print beautiful, true Edge-to-Edge BorderFree prints up to A4 in size. The Epson Stylus C79 is $99 RRP including GST and the Stylus C59 is $79 RRP including GST. For full product specifications please refer to www.epson.co.nz

INFINITY CASCADE SPEAKERS

With their uncompromised sonic performance and striking beauty, the Cascades dispel the widely accepted belief that speakers have to be big to sound good. Infinity has addressed this challenge by a combination of state-of-the-art technologies including flat-panel transducers that occupy less than half the depth of conventional drivers. Designed to partner A/V receiver or amplifiers from 10 through to150 watts, the Cascades are equally suited to both home theatre and 2-channel music environments. The six Cascade models offer a host of placement choices including in-wall installation, floor placement and stand mounting, that accommodate a variety of 7.1, 6.1 and 5.1 channel system configurations. All the Cascade model loudspeakers are in a variety of attractive finishes including real wood, cherry veneer, high-gloss silver or high-gloss black. RRP $1500 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; $3,200. For further information visit www.ct.com.au or contact John Murt on 07 5471 1062 or email johnmurt@highprofile.com.au.

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 93

realLIFE

15 MINUTES

1972

A Bonnie lass

After losing both of her parents, singer and guitarist Bonnie Raitt reviews her career with Ben Wener

t wouldn’t happen every year – she wasn’t on tour every year – but it became an erstwhile tradition that Bonnie Raitt fans came to expect. Whenever the bluesrock veteran with the husky voice and fiery red mane would return home to perform in Los Angeles or Orange County, California, at some point her dad might appear to sing “Oklahoma!” A tip of the hat, so to speak, from

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Hall of Famer daughter to her father, beloved Broadway star John Raitt. One of the first celebrities to emerge from Orange County, where his family was so prominent it eventually had a Santa Ana street named for it, Raitt senior rose to fame in the ‘50s by playing Curly in that cherished musical, as well as leading another Rodgers & Hammerstein production, “Carousel.”

But the woman once known mostly as John Raitt’s daughter recently lost the man who in his autumn years was more famous for being Bonnie Raitt’s father. Last year, at 88, the elder Raitt died from complications of pneumonia after a prolonged illness – just months after Bonnie’s mother, Raitt’s first wife, Marge Goddard, succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease. So coming back to Southern California for shows is now bittersweet for 56 year old Bonnie Raitt. “This will be the first holiday season I will have both parents gone,” she notes. “It’ll be very, very moving for me. “But lately I’ve been singing with ... well, I don’t want to say ‘renewed vigor.’ I haven’t lost my voice. But I feel like I’m singing with them in me now. I don’t want to sound too metaphysical, but it’s just there.” During a phone chat, she recalled that a few nights earlier at a show, “I was fighting a cold, and I just kinda invoked my folks when I noticed my voice getting a little hoarse ... and suddenly I sang clear as a bell. “I noticed that happening a week or so after my mom died. I went from not being able to think about her – just losing it when I did – to actually carrying her in the songs. I fully believe the heart can imbue your voice and your soul that way.” Likewise, the recording of Raitt’s 15th album, Souls Alike, was a much-needed therapeutic release for the slide-guitar virtuoso, who went from merely revered blues figure to pop force after her 1989 breakthrough, Nick of Time, earned her four Grammys, including Album of the Year. While her father momentarily recuperated after months in intensive care, Raitt welcomed the chance to focus on something else – something potentially cathartic. Yet, as has always been the case when she embarks on a new project, determining what songs to include proved difficult. Despite the sadness surrounding her, “I wasn’t really motivated to include very personal, confessional songs of my own.” And while she points out that “I would never do a show without a blues song in it,” she wasn’t aiming “to reinvent the wheel with another blues collaboration this time. You gotta give some of that a rest now and then. Otherwise, you’re repeating yourself.” Her only option, then, was to scour the hundreds of CDs she is sent by music pub-

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SISTER RESORTS • THE AITUTAKI LAGOON RESORT & SPA • THE RAROTONGAN BEACH RESORT & SPA INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006, 95

2006 lishers, friends or other songwriters vouching for unknowns, in the hope that one might have a song or two that spoke to her. “But it’s hard to find songs I want even if I’ve known the writer for 50 years,” she says. “Bonnie Hayes and John Hiatt and John Prine – I love them and their songs, and people always say, ‘Why don’t you cover more of their stuff?’ It’s just that it’s not necessarily what I want to say at that moment.” Along came Maia Sharp – and the process suddenly became much easier. A minor player who studied jazz before making the leap to rock five years ago, Sharp’s untapped songwriting provided Raitt’s album with three highlights, including “I Don’t Want Anything to Change” (which Raitt considers of the

96, INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM, December 2006

same calibre as her classic “I Can’t Make You Love Me”) and “The Bed I Made,” a rare heartbroken piece from the perspective of the person instigating the break-up. Since then, Sharp’s career has become such a cause for Raitt that – as with keysman Jon Cleary, a longtime member of Raitt’s touring band who contributed two numbers to Souls Alike – the burgeoning talent is now her opening act. “When I connect with someone like that,” she says, “it’s almost like I could do five or six of their songs. All of a sudden this swarm of connections occurred, and you never know why that happens. It’s like trying to figure out why you fell in love with this person or that person. If you hadn’t stopped at that red light and got-

ten out at that point, you wouldn’t have met somebody that you may have almost run over.” She started laughing at that analogy. “That’s not a very gracious way to say that, but it is happenstance. It’s as mysterious as it is organic.” The same could be said of Raitt’s music, especially since Nick of Time. With assistance from idiosyncratic producers Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake (the latter assisted Raitt on her first self-production credit for Souls Alike), each album has been harder and harder to define, blending as they do all manner of roots music – folk, country, Celtic and more – into a murky but palatable pop stew. But blues remains the backbone. “It has roots in American popular music that were so clear to me from the time I heard Ray Charles’ first records or Little Richard or Fats Domino. It threads through everything. The more people study the roots of American music, the more they see this incredible tree of influence. There wouldn’t be any Beatles or Rolling Stones or rap or soul music without the blues.” Yet can it still thrive? In many respects, despite the efforts of Martin Scorsese’s recent documentary anthology, blues music continues to be marginalized, treated as antiquated, only suitable for retro festivals. “And the local scene has dried up,” Raitt adds, “and people are switching over to DJs or alternative bands. “Making a living in blues clubs around the country is endangered. And though satellite radio is giving people the option of hearing more of it, I don’t want to see it turn into background noise. People need to get out, buy albums, go to clubs and try to support that – but I guess $9 for beer makes it tough to go out.” What would really help, she believes, is if the blues were seen as part of the fabric, not a segregated sound that must be savored purely. “Look at the White Stripes and the North Mississippi Allstars – those guys are helping. Lucinda Williams is in many ways a blues artist. I just think it’s good to open up the genres and not always categorize people. That’s why I couldn’t get arrested until I was 40. People would say, ‘What is she? Is she pop or blues or country?’ “Who cares? I mean, who cares what Norah Jones is? Does it matter whether Norah Jones is jazz or blues or this or that? She’s just great.”